Silent Prevailing
by moxxie23-deactivated
Summary: TNA fic. The prequel to the one shot The Quiet Things No One Ever Knows. See how love prevailed between one misunderstood wrestler and the woman who chose to ignore warnings to be with him. Low Ki/Senshi/Kaval
1. Initial Meetings

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the TNA trademarks and/or wrestlers. All I own in this story is the plot and the original character of Magic. Jessie is a real person working for TNA but I have no relations to her at all, except maybe being part of her extended network on myspace.

* * *

Here I am, at Universal studios standing in front on the soundstage that houses TNA's Impact arena. I still can't believe it though. It was like it was just a few days ago. Well, actually, yeah, it was just a few days ago. I read a classified that the company was looking for a new production manager. Being a fresh graduate of film with a major on production, I thought this was a good opportunity. Of course, being a long-time wrestling fan pretty much sealed the deal that I was going to try to get the job. And get the job I did.

This wasn't how I originally thought I'd be getting involved with wrestling though. I always dreamed of being up there risking life and limb just to entertain the fans. But alas, at an early age, I discovered just how big of a klutz I can be and have no talent whatsoever when in came to sports. I barely even passed the physical fitness test they required all students to take during high school. I was fit looking yes, but fit in every other sense of the word was another deal altogether.

I'm a petite girl, standing at a pathetic five feet and two inches. I had waist-length light brown hair with natural blonde tints. Paired with light hazel eyes, people said I was a looker. Sure, it's not like there are thousands of other Caucasians out there that don't fit that description. Yes, I am being sarcastic.

I made my way to the back entrance and after having the guard check my ID and pass and finding my name on the list and giving me a double take and disbelieving smile, I was on my way to find Jeff Jarrett so he could introduce me to their current production manager Jessie. I was used to that reaction to my name so I gave the same true story to him – my parents were two percent hippies. Who else would name their kid Mage Isabel-Croix Cortez and give them the nick name Magic? Unless you were high at one point in your life, you would never be caught doing that.

When I finally found Jeff Jarrett, I found him conversing with a short brunette girl that I assume was Jessie. I could already tell why they would need another production manager seeing as Jessie was a good five months pregnant. She can't really run around backstage trying to get big burly wrestlers to where they need to be and do it effectively without endangering herself.

After initial introductions were done, Jessie was instructed to help me get acquainted with the job and introduce me to the people I was set to work with. I met several crew members that set up the ring and lights. I met the sound manager and some cameramen. I even met all the knockouts once we got to catering. And I am so glad to say that they are not one of those eat-half-a-lettuce-leaf types. They are healthy girls with healthy appetites.

I met some wrestlers. Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin and Petey Williams if you really wanted to know. They all remarked at how it's good to know that they were not the only people that got stuck with the short gene. Sure, they're not the ones that are midgets when compared to everyone else. Considerably short_er_ but not midgets. We all had a good laugh when I said this to them to which Alex, or Patrick as he informed me of his real name, said that I'd fit in with the attitude I have.

After that short laugh trip, Jessie hauled me off to another part of the arena and pointed to certain areas and told me of what the job is basically about.

* * *

It's just now a few minutes before taping starts and let me tell you, I am glad that I came onto the job during tapings and not during a PPV. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure my head would have gone off. Jessie and I pretty much ran all over the place. Well, actually, it was more me running because I didn't want Jessie to do so in her state. She protested, but I showed my Latina heritage by showcasing a fierce attitude. I ran around the place making sure that all the ringside photographers were present, made sure all the cameras were in working order, all microphones and headsets were functioning, and making sure the wrestlers know when they're on or when and where they're doing a promo. It was like a madhouse of busy bodies. I could only imagine the PPVs to be ten times as crazy as this.

When I finally made my way back to Jessie who was stationed at the sound booth, she had a good laugh at my already harried state.

"Don't worry, it gets easier over time," she said with a reassuring smile. "You're lucky you have me to show you the ropes, when I got here, the guy that showed me around was such an ass and left me all to myself."

"What'd you do?" I asked.

"I screwed up on my first night, but Dixie and Jeff were nice about it because they were aware of how the other guy was and understood what happened," she explained.

"And I'm the lucky girl that came on the day that your hormones weren't screwing with you," I joked.

We both laughed lightly and calmed down when we heard the producer count down the taping. And with that, Jessie and I were off to the backstage to make sure everything runs smoothly.

* * *

The tapings have been done for a couple of minutes and I've found out that it's only during before the actual tapings or show that it's busy. It's when everything needs to be put in order so you have to run around. But with everyone in TNA being somewhat of a close-knit group, everyone basically knew to do their job and even help around with other odd jobs like Jeff Jarrett being the one to knock on a wrestler's door that he's passed knowing that they were on next.

Jessie was teaching me how to do the paperwork detailing reports on the tapings. Basically, you just put on what's wrong, if there's any, with equipment, cards and production. After finishing that, we headed to Jeff's office to hand the papers in.

"So how did your first day go?" he asked politely.

"It's been good. I got to learn what needs to be done and got my hands into it. It's been busy but I can handle it," I said.

"Good, so you won't be running off for having loons around you all the time," he joked. We all laughed at that.

I like having him and Dixie as bosses. Dixie was like a nurturing mother when she interviewed me and Jeff seems like an uncle or big brother type. Both were laid back and unimposing. It wasn't a mystery as to how most wrestlers got along with them. I was about to head for the door and make the short trip home to my Orlando apartment before Jeff's voice stopped me.

"Magic, would you care to join us all for a late dinner? We're having some sort of going away party for Jessie," he said.

"Going away party? I'm only gonna be gone for a couple of months to a year. And I'm not even leaving 'til I reach the seventh month. I still have two months!" Jessie ranted.

"Ok, don't shoot the messenger," Jeff said with both his arms raised in surrender. "Everyone else pitched that idea. Why? I don't know. But you are going to be around considerably less because you're going to be handling the web stuff and photo shoots instead of tapings and PPVs," he explained. "But if you really don't like the idea, you can just think that it's Magic's welcome to the family party."

Jeff and Jessie both looked at me waiting for some sort of answer. Who am I to pass on the opportunity to meet more people that I work with and form friendships with them? That's a standard for every job, for relationships, whether business or friendship, with your co-workers to assure a better work environment.

With a nod of my head, we all made our way out of the office. After being informed that the venue for dinner would be the closest Denny's, I separated from the two and made my way out to the parking lot. I waved to the same security guard who marveled slightly at my name while he gave me a nod and a small smile.

As I get into my car, I can't help but think of what a great start it's been. I start to wonder about the rest of the people I would be meeting at Denny's and slightly worry of what they thought of me. Sure, Jeff and Jessie seem to like me, as well as Patrick and the others I met. But they're comparatively few when compared to the whole population of the TNA roster and crew. Hopefully I don't make an ass of myself and step on anyone's toes while I'm on my stint with TNA. Note to self: ask Jessie what everyone's like, see which people to stay away from.

* * *

AN: So here you go. The first chapter of the prequel to "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows". Please tell me what you think.

Phoenix: Hot off the press! Wasn't I just talking to you about writing this a couple of minutes ago? LOL

CaliforniaQueen: You requested me to go on with the story, and so it shall be. I'll have more chapters up for you when I get to write them. This would just serve as an introduction to and of the girl involved in the short story. I hope this comes out to be up to par with your liking.

And as usual, please read and review. The more reviews I get, the more happy I am to get back to writing out another chapter.

- Nef


	2. Keys to Your Survival

Being that we didn't have any showering and changing to do nor do we have to take down the ring or move equipment, Jessie and I were one of the first people to arrive at Denny's for dinner. It was during this time of quiet that will undoubtedly be cut off once other wrestlers and crew members arrive, that I asked Jessie about how I should act around people.

"Act like yourself," she said simply. "We pretty much treat everyone like family. Save for the first couple of days or so when it seems like everyone wants to play twenty questions with you," she joked.

We had a short laugh at that, knowing that being the new kid coming into a close-knit group would entice a round of getting to know each other time. She then went on to tell me about the different personalities backstage and their humor. It was fun finding out that Joe, one of the bigger, scarier guys happens to have one of the greatest senses of humor. Jessie actually referred to him as a teddy bear.

"But don't tell him I said that," she quickly followed. "No matter how light-hearted that man may be, I still don't wanna get caught in his kokina clutch or a muscle buster."

That roused another round of laughter from the both of us. She proceeded to tell me about how Alistair Ralphs or A1 has the type of dry humor that she could only define to be an acquired taste. Otherwise, you're likely to be offended by some of the things that come out of his mouth. She also told me about how random Patrick can be. She went on to tell me this story about he was making whining noises similar to that made by a hungry puppy during one of the production meetings. She also told me of how much found could ensue once the guys playing the characters of Sabin, Lethal and Dutt got together. Apparently their friendship wasn't just some angle put in front of a national audience to help promote the movie Jackass 2. They really do act that way.

After she told me that, we took notice of some crewmembers and wrestlers that just arrived. I was introduced to some of the people I have not yet met while the others whose acquaintance I already had the privilege of having earlier asked how my first day on the job went. I told them the same thing I told Jeff that it was hectic but I could handle it.

One of the crewmembers was looking at me oddly so I looked back at him with a questioning one. He gave a small smile and what I could tell was a slight blush as he looked away from me. After he got his bearings back, he proceeded to ask me a question.

"Magic? That's an odd name for a person, much less a girl," he commented.

"My parents were two percent hippies," I said, giving the same joke I was used to giving to everyone that asks about my name. "My full name's Mage Isabel-Croix Cortez. It's too much of a mouthful to say so they stuck me with Magic," I explained further.

"That is a mouthful," said Valerie Wyndham, otherwise known as So Cal Val. Everyone had a small chuckle at the small joke and her statement.

Before I could proceed to ask everyone else about the inner workings of TNA, the bulk of the wrestlers and crew arrived which pretty much signified the start of the party. I was introduced to practically everyone on the roster and staff, having them ask the same question pertaining to my name, and only missed to have met a select few that had to catch flights out to make other appearances for other companies.

I don't get the fascination with my name. I think it's pretty normal. True that it's a bit odd for a girl to have since the only notable person to have carried it is a basketball legend, but I don't think it's weird. Then again, I've had the name for my whole life, so I'm used to it.

I was looking around the room doing one of my favorite things – people watching. I saw Josh, Tesh and Jamar, otherwise known as Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal hanging out with the likes of Petey Williams and Patrick. It was quite a laugh trip to see them chucking pieces of fries into each other's mouths and bursting out in raucous laughter. Jessie was right about them being a fun group. It eases my mind that I could still be the twenty three year old female that I am around some of these guys – just bordering on maturity but still knowing how to let loose.

Turning my head to look at other people, I could see the guys of America's Most Wanted hanging out with the Naturals having a more subdued conversation as compared to the first group that caught my eye. They strike me as the type of people that you could talk serious matters with but have fun with at the same time. I just had to reach that assumption after having James Storm throw me a wide grin and making his eyebrows bounce up and down. This action prompted the others to look my way and they all waved and gave small smiles. Embarrassed at being caught, I had no other thing left to do but wave back at them.

Recovering from that little mishap, I continued to people watch taking notice of the closeness that staff and roster alike shared. It was most interesting to see the likes of Chris Parks, or Abyss, an otherwise frightening monster standing at six-foot eight inches, act like such a gentle giant while talking to his smaller friend Bob Ryder. The camaraderie was clear and distinct. It was more like all of them were as Jeff and Jessie described – a family more than colleagues.

I could feel a small smile form on my face. I knew from here on that I made a wise move to work for this company. After leaving California to study college and only being able to visit every so often, I need to be around people that could treat me like I never left home. It should make the job easier as well.

As soon as I formed that thought however, I felt as if someone was staring a hole through me. And once I turned my head, my feelings proved to be right. There he was, sitting beside the members of LAX, staring straight at me. It wasn't the same stare that I directed at everyone else as I was watching them. It wasn't the same stare that James returned to me. There was no cheesy grin, not even a small smile. All there was to it was a blank look in his eyes and a stoic expression on his face. It was a stark contrast to his environment that provided a fun-filled and loose background.

I broke the stare that I had on him and looked back down at my half-eaten food. I could still feel his eyes on me and it began to unnerve me. I looked at the shiny napkin dispenser, trying to see if I had some odd stuff on my face that had him staring at me like that, but there was nothing there. Still feeling his eyes on me, I turned toward Jessie and asked her a question that I was dying to know about him and everyone else.

"So you talked about everyone's humor, you talked about relationships, do you think you could tell me about who to stay away from?" I asked.

"Who to stay away from?" she asked back confused.

"Yeah. You can't honestly tell me that having a backstage filled with this many people, actually get along very well at all times. Even now, I can see some cliques amongst people," I explained. "Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying that some of these guys are jackasses. I just want to know who I need to watch out for. Knowing how to act around people and knowing who to avoid are things that, I believe, serve as keys to survival."

"Well, it's not so much as having to stay away from some people but rather staying away from certain situations," she started. "If you see Jeff Jarrett and Ron Killings, run the other way. It's common knowledge that those two don't get along. With Joe, just stay clear after he had a rough match. He's known to carry a lot of adrenaline that follows him throughout the night. A lot of people have intense attitudes; you just have to know how to deal with them and learn to not be easily offended."

"Intense huh?" I asked. That was how I could describe the look I was given. Looking up for a second makes me want to rephrase that. Intense was how I would describe the look that I was still being given.

"What about Senshi?" I asked.

"Brandon Silvestry?" Jessie looked to me for confirmation. Seeing me give a slight nod of the head, she too started to look around to see him still eyeing me.

"Steer clear of the guy if you can," she said mysteriously.

I raised my eyebrows in question of that statement. I could tell that the guy held a great intensity about him but was that intensity really enough to warrant that type of warning? Wanting further explanation on it, I asked Jessie that same thought.

"You've heard about how he likes to stay in character waaaaaaaay before coming into the ring and well after coming out right?" she asked back. "And then there's that incident with Tammy Sytch and his infamous temper."

Somehow, that short explanation still couldn't quench my curiosity about the guy but it seems that it was all the explanation that Jessie had to offer.

"Trust me Magic. If you want to be able to do your job and stay on your job without dealing with much drama or troubles, stay away from Brandon Silvestry."

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AN: There you go with chapter two. I might not update this as frequent as I do with A Lot of Moxie but please don't hate me for that. Do remember that this story was meant to be nothing more than a oneshot and I am just doing this by request. True, that the request made me develop a couple of ideas but those haven't developed fully yet. So please be patient with the coming along of this one. 

A huge thanks goes out to Phoenix and DarkGirlX for giving solid reviews to all of my writing. Good to know that you two really do appreciate it all.

Thanks also goes out to LycanQueen54, Takerslady and foolishangel87 for reviewing the first chapter.

Kudos to you all. Please read and review once again, leave comments on the writing and what you may want to see next. No guarantee that it's going to come up but it doesn't hurt to try. ;)

- Nef


	3. Such A Mystery

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind for me. I was getting up to speed with the other aspects of being the production manager for a promotion like TNA. Jessie said this would have been a lighter time had I come in a couple weeks prior. Because when I took the job, it was two weeks before one of their pay-per-view events. With only handling one show under my belt, am I really ready for all the madness that I'm sure could ensue?

No time to really ask and no time to really get an answer, because Jeff and Dixie have me running like a chicken with its head cut off. Over to one side of the arena, back to the other, post this up, get this to him – it's crazy but I love it. And I love the down time even more. Haha!

Right now, I'm reveling in a relative calm doing the people watching that I very much loved to do while seated in one corner of the catering area. I have now deduced that Patrick, Josh and Petey loved having small food fights. Ah to be young. What the heck am I saying? I'm Josh's age. I haven't felt like it for the past few weeks though. Who knew responsibility can do that to you? Ok, note to self: lie back once you get the chance – maybe go to Disney.

"You know it's rude to stare," a deep southern voice whispered to my ear.

I looked to my left to see the face of James Storm mere inches away from me. The close proximity of his head to mine made me rear back a bit with a shocked look on my face. Of course James laughs at this while seating himself on the chair beside mine.

"I'm guessing you like to people watch," he stated.

"One of my favorite things to do," I replied.

"Why is that?" he questioned. "You've been doing it since you got here. It seems like any time you have a second to spare, you're doing it."

"I don't know," I answered pathetically. "People interest me I guess."

"How so?" he asked back.

"I get to see different sides of people when they think no one's watching," I said mysteriously.

"Ah. Going to use something for blackmail on us?' he joked.

"Not unless you piss me off," I retorted.

"And what could piss off the likes of one Miss Magic?" he asked cheekily.

"Twenty questions," I said dryly. James' smile dropped and his stare on me turned blank. Now it was my time to laugh at his expression.

"That was evil," he said.

"Not as evil as what you were planning Mister Storm," I pointed out.

"And what exactly was I planning oh wise one," he said in full dramatics.

"Not exactly sure," I said with a shrug. "But you might want to take notice of how expressive your eyes can be." He gave me a questioning look in return. "You had an evil glint in it that was very clear when you're face was inches from mine."

He looked down at the table, looking to be pondering about what I just said before nodding his head and admitting to planning something. As to what that was, he wouldn't tell. Instead he just sat there asking me about how I was coping with the job so far, stuff about my family and other random things like my favorite food. Now I don't know if any of you feel the same, but after seeing the man's smile and witnessing his humor, I never thought of him as one who would have a calm sit-down conversation with anyone. I thought of him more like the one that would constantly have you in fits of laughter. It's good to be proven wrong sometimes.

Speaking of being proven wrong, Jessie's fair warning about Brandon Silvestry has been haunting my mind since that night at Denny's. True, after having him give me a very long unnerving stare, I wanted to heed her warning and just avoid him at all costs and as much as possible. But it also made me wonder as to why he was doing it. I wasn't even formally introduced to him that night, nor did I have any interaction with him prior to that dinner. I'm pretty sure I haven't met him before seeing as I'm a California girl to his Brooklyn-bred self.

It's a mystery that I wish to unveil. I haven't told Jessie of it for fear of her having a coronary. And when she spoke of that instance from the diner during one of the production meetings, Lee South and Bill Banks were quick to agree about staying clear of Low Ki. I found it odd that they refer to him by his independent name but they quickly said that that's how it's always been and that Brandon actually prefers it.

He is one odd man indeed. Though I would very much love to delve more into the mystery and discover some truths to prove people wrong about him, I have yet to be given a chance. Mister Silvestry can be very illusive and scarce when he wants to. I haven't seen him ever since two weeks ago at dinner. I wonder where he is.

* * *

The pre-show went off without a hitch and now everyone's making last minute adjustments as we draw near the opening minutes of the pay-per-view event. I saw James perched up on one of the equipment crates cradling a beer bottle in his left hand. Having nothing to do as of yet, I made my way to join him.

"Drinking on the job?" I said while shaking my head and giving two clicks of my tongue.

"It's part of my job description. Life is grand," he said with a wave of his hands. I have made my sentiments clear on how this man is different from what I had imagined right?

"Take a seat Miss," he said while patting the top of the crate.

"Is that bottle going to come in handy for later?" I asked while looking down at the object.

"Who knows?" he said mysteriously. I just gave him a pointed stare along with a raised eyebrow to which he replied to with a laugh.

"Have you seen the so-called equalizer?" he said making the quotation marks in the air at the word equalizer.

"Yeah, Jaime Dauncey. What about her?" I asked curiously.

"She scares me," he said in a little voice. I looked at him with wide eyes and had to blink several times at the sound he made.

"You are one of a kind Mister Storm, one of a kind," I said patting his back. "Things are about to start, I better head to the production booth to do my job. I'll see you later. Good luck on your match."

On my way to the production area, I got attacked by a whirlwind one TNA fan could call Chris Sabin. I fell to the floor and the production notes I was holding came flying out of my hands.

"Sorry Mage! I'm losing some pads," he hollered behind him while running towards the exit. Most probably, he's heading to the parking lot to his rental car, hoping he left a bag there carrying his gear.

I shook my head before proceeding to grab the papers that were strewn on the floor around me. As I was reaching for the last two sheets, another hand grabbed them and had light contact with mine. I looked up in surprise at the other presence. Greater shock went thru my body as I came face to face with Brandon Silvestry.

He had the same stoic look on his face that he had two weeks prior. Except there's one difference now. His stare was no longer unnerving but held an interest. Now, he's proven himself to be even more of a mystery to me.

"Here you go," he said in his deep voice while handing me the last of my papers. "Sorry about Sabin, he just doesn't know when to slow down sometimes."

And with that, he walks away. Leaving me staring after him, wondering if he even heard me say thank you.

* * *

**AN:** Here's another chapter to this story. I'm on a roll with updates on my stories aren't I? LOL Don't get used to it though, school's going to be picking up soon. And then there's my part-time writing job. And then this job at making you guys have something to dwell on. LOL Be patient when time calls for it. ;)

Thanks to everyone that has put this story on their faves list or alerts list. It's great to know that my work is appreciated.

To misstraci, foolishangel87 and Lycanqueen54: I do agree about there not being many Low Ki/Senshi stories. Thus the reason this and "Quiet Things..." was made. I hope this turns out to be up to par to your liking. ;)

To Takerslady: Thanks for reviewing once again. You're reviews are becoming a staple for me now. :)

To Phoenix and DarkGirlX: I've told the two of you time and time again how much I appreciate the reviews, it's not going to change now. Keep 'em coming:)

Thanks again!

- Nef

* * *


	4. Confusion Behind the Scenes

All the promos have been shot, all the interviews have been pre-taped and are just waiting for the right time to be played and all the event cards have been confirmed with all wrestlers which leaves me with some down time from work – at least until something goes wrong. Let's hope that doesn't happen for my sake and for the rest of the company's sake. But for right now, I can relax and watch the tag match pitting America's Most Wanted against AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. Of course I already know the outcome of the match that after a long time of having Gail screw them over, AJ and Chris, or Allen and Daniel as they are otherwise known, finally get the titles. But I still want to watch to see what craziness could ensue in that ring.

The so-called equalizer finally came out and whacked Gail around good. I take back my small mocking of James because of his confessed fear of the woman. Jamie may be a nice girl and all but she does get captured as a frightening Amazon on camera. Heck, she could probably use me for her weight training and not break a sweat! Yup, I am most definitely taking back what I told James. It's alright to be scared because so am I. Haha!

"I never knew that getting hit on the head with a beer bottle could make a person laugh," said a deep voice from beside my position on top of one of the equipment trunks. I knew the voice before even turning my head in his direction.

"No it doesn't. I just had a random thought," I explained looking away from the monitors to look at him.

"You look a bit surprised. Why is that?" he asked.

"You're talking to me. Isn't that enough?" I asked right back.

"Now you're making it seem like I'm such a stuck up bastard," he retorted.

"From what I heard, apparently you are," I said looking back at the monitor after hearing the bell sound and Christopher Daniels' theme play throughout the arena.

"Ouch," he said simply.

"That's all you're gonna say?" I asked incredulously, snapping my head back to him.

"What more is there to say?" he asked confused.

"I don't know," I said pathetically. "Blow up at me or something."

"You don't even know me and you're expecting me to explode over the most trivial thing," he said in a monotone voice that send shivers down my spine.

"You don't really act like someone approachable for me to get to know," I said quietly.

"Let me put a change to that then," he started before putting his hand out. "The name's Brandon Silvestry."

"Brandon huh?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"It's the name on my birth certificate," he quipped.

"Some people seem to be keen on calling you Ki above any other name," I said.

"It's their decision to make what they call me," he said.

"So what do I call you?" I asked.

"Whatever," he said with a shrug.

"Ok Whatever," I joked lamely.

"How about just calling me Brandon?" he said with a soft chuckle.

Oh. My. God. Forget about his voice sending shivers through me. That damn laugh and smile. Or what little turn that his mouth made. It wasn't exactly a smile but it looked close enough. It's most definitely an odd thing to see from someone of his nature. The few times I've seen him, he's always been serious and stoic and unmoving.

"Hello? Anyone there?' he asked while snapping his fingers in my face. I guess I spaced out.

"Sorry," I said shaking my head. "I'm just thoroughly confused."

He was about to open his mouth to make some comment but was interrupted by a freshly showered James Storm popping out from what seems to be nowhere.

"Hey Magic! Aren't you supposed to be working?" he asked after giving a wary glance towards Brandon.

"Yeah Mage, it's a big event with your relatively new job and you're already slacking," mocked Gail who was right behind James. I gave her a gentle shove before shooting her a mock glare.

"And your job was to help keep the titles with AMW but look how that went," I mocked back. We gave each other scathing looks before breaking out in laughter. "This can be considered working you know, I'm studying the material that we have," I said with an upturned nose.

"Sure, whatever you say… slacker," James said.

"I'm just gonna go Magic," piped up Brandon. "It was good talking to you." And with that, he turned his back to us and walked away.

I followed him with my eyes until I could no longer see him after he turned down another hallway. When I turned my head to look back at Gail and James, they were staring at me with questioning looks. I returned their questioning looks back and waited until one of them made any comments. Gail was the first to break her silence and asked me about what was bothering her.

"What were you doing talking to him?" she asked.

"Am I not supposed to?" I asked confused.

"What she means is, well, exactly what she asked," James said trying to explain what was simple enough to understand.

"He came over to me and just sparked up a conversation," I explained.

"Sparked up a conversation?" they said simultaneously.

"Are you sure we are talking about the same Low Ki here?" Gail asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "And his name is Brandon."

"You're on a first name basis with him?" James asked snapping his head back to me.

"Uhm, yeah. Am I not supposed to?" I asked with an even more confused tone as before.

"You're one of very few people then," Gail said mysteriously.

"So are you planning on going out to party after the event?" James asked, successfully moving the conversation away from the subject.

I answered his question with an affirmative and made plans to hang out with them and a couple others before I was called to do something with production. Throughout the remaining minutes of the pay-per-view, confusion stayed displayed on my face. Confusion over Brandon's attitude being different from what Jessie and a couple others have spoken of, confusion over him introducing himself as Brandon instead of Ki or Senshi, confusion over the conversation I had with him and the one I had with Gail and James – I was just plain confused over everything. If I want to get some good, solid, undisturbed sleep, I'm going to need to find answers. Otherwise, this is most definitely going to haunt me.

* * *

**AN:** Here's chapter 4! Alerts still aren't working which leaves me with even fewer reviews than I'm used to. What is wrong with ffnet? Anyway, sorry if updates for this don't come as often or as interesting as that of A Lot of Moxie. Again I stress that I'm making this as I go because this was a request fic. I do anything to please my readers, no matter how few they may be.

I want to say thank you to the staff of the C2 Other Fiction, misstraci and foolishangel87 for putting this story and The Quiet Things No One Ever Knows in the group.

Thanks to DarkGirlX for the constant reviews despite alerts being down. You so rock!

To Phoenix, I miss you and your reviews. :(

That's all for now. For anyone that has suggestions to where they want this story to go (apart from what you know it leads to), they are welcome to voice them out. It would be greatly appreciated.

- Nef


	5. Different Sides

Dear Lord, another PPV is in the works. I swear I go crazy once a month because of these things. And this is my third one already! You would think that I'd be used to it, but no. Who could ever really get used to half-naked men running around, pulling pranks on each other and trying to prove themselves to be as bendable as a pretzel with their warm-ups? Not to mention the random "does this look good on me" question. I swear these guys were females in their past life.

But aside from whatever issues they have with oddities and past lives, it's still incomparable to how they truly are. I've gotten to know practically the whole of the organization via my people watching and actually talking to them. And let me just tell you, what you see on TV is almost completely different from how they are in real life.

I say almost probably because of one certain group of people. Josh, Tesh, Jamar, Patrick – they're all the fun characters that you see on screen. Although Patrick maintains that he's not an asshole, but rather just has an "acquired taste" when it comes to people. Does anyone know what he's saying? I don't. And I've come to learn to not try and understand all of them. They'll just give me a headache for trying to figure out what should remain a mystery.

James, Chris, Andy and Chase are different from their characters. All of them seem to play these hard-assed men that take what they do very seriously. But in real life, they're all teddy bears. They're the type of people that you could joke around with because they're not "old" but still have a profound conversation with because they've matured enough.

The likes of Jeff, Scott, Chris Parks and Jim Mitchell are ones that surprised me as well. You see them with these intense characters that would make you think that you'd never want to deal with them even if they were the last people on earth. But they all turned as some of the most wisdom-filled and caring people around.

Everyone else falls in between them. The girls are the girls. I have no other explanation for it but that. They're just all as what females should be. The rest of the crew are all cordial and act just as how the wrestlers act without the running around half-naked part. It was all like one big happy family where everyone got along despite differences and everyone knew each other well.

Well… almost.

There still remains one enigma amongst them all. And that's Brandon Silvestry. I've had several other encounters with him and he's acted the same as our first actual conversation. He was kind, light, borderline playful and just not how he was described by the others.

There was even one time when Val and Gail saw him talking to me that I was dragged off to the locker room so they can talk to me about some very trivial thing. Later in the night, Joe came to me and asked why I just walked away from Brandon. After explaining what really happened, he only gave out a sigh, a shake of the head and some very haunting words – that I shouldn't believe everything I've been told and that he was actually a nice guy despite being a little too into what he was doing.

I don't know what it is with the guy but to have even someone he calls a close friend still put that little bit of information in is definitely raising flags.

For right now though, I can't worry about it. We do have a PPV to run here. With the thoughts pushed out of my mind, I'm back off to work.

* * *

HOLY SHIT!

I can't believe that just happened. Of all the things that could have happened, I never thought that it would be the one to take place. Not long after the opening pyro went off, an area by the face tunnel caught on fire. But even with the fire going on, Jeremy and Johnny's match went on. Albeit they were covered by a thick cloud of smoke, but it went on nonetheless. I can't say much for the other matches though.

Everyone was going around mad with frenzy to get the fire under control. Wrestlers were out at the main floor telling everyone to be calm and step outside in an orderly manner. The writers and agents were working hard on making adjustments as the fire department arrived. And I was the one running around like a chicken with its head cut off making the adjustments known. As much as it pained me to say it to their face, moreover, seeing their reactions, I had to tell the participants of the special tag match featuring several teams that the match will no longer be on.

They were disheartened but they knew it had to be done. They were happy to help with other things though. Specifically, they were happy to help with stalling by getting some camera time. Chase and Andy made a break in the air of franticness by making a crack at how they were going to be on camera anyway so they still win a little something because of it.

Once the fire was controlled and everything else put right into place, everyone backstage gave off a sigh of relief. But the tension didn't completely leave as we still had the rest of the show to go thru and hope that nothing else unfortunate happen. To everyone's joy, nothing did.

* * *

I just dropped off some production notes at Jeff and Dixie's office which included notes on the fire and what damages were done. Glad to say that it wasn't much. Some torched lighting wires, curtains and partial walls.

I was on my way to pick up my things from the women's locker room but before I could round the corner towards it, a set of voices stopped me from doing so.

"This is so stupid," said a voice that was all too familiar. "If people had checked, double checked and triple checked everything, this wouldn't have happened. And what do we get? We get to put out a half-assed show!"

"Hey man, it's not like the fire was intentional," said another voice trying to calm the other down.

"Well it might as well be!" exclaimed the other.

"The fire was an accident. The pyro just went bigger than what was expected," the other said in reason.

"Well if stupid production and crew members did some sort of run though to make sure that it's safe then we wouldn't have gone thru thirty minutes of doing absolutely nothing," he said, his voice progressively getting louder and scaring away some crew members lurking around.

I had enough of hearing this. I know I had no fault as to what happened. Nor do I think that anyone else was to blame. It was an unfortunate accident that could have happened at any point in time to any one company that handles pyrotechnics.

"I'm sorry if you feel that way Mr. Silvestry," I said stepping around the corridor. "Us **stupid** production people are human after all. We aren't psychic that can predict every little moment that can go wrong."

With a roll of my eyes and a scoff, I walked past Joe and Brandon and proceeded to grab my stuff from the locker room.

In that short encounter, I saw a glimpse of just what I was being warned about. Anyone with logical reasoning will not have blamed that fire on anyone yet he can't seem to let go of it. He acted differently from the guy I was able to talk to for several times. Now he's become even more of an enigma. I couldn't tell exactly which side of him was the real Brandon Silvestry. And to be honest, I'm starting to not care.

* * *

**AN:** Woot! I finally updated this. It may not seem like a long time since I last updated, but with the roll I had going with A Lot of Moxie, it's going terribly slow. I've said it once, I'll say it again. Be patient because this is only a request fic that I'm still trying to come to grips with. Plus, it's kinda disheartening when the one who requested it doesn't seem to be reading the story anyway.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed that last chapter: Phoenix, DarkGirlX, misstraci, Takerslady, foolishangel87 and my newest reader HeartsAndLies. :)

Hopefully my muse for this doesn't leave me again. I'll be waiting for your reviews!

- Nef


	6. Prove It

For the first time since I started working in TNA, I'm dreading having to show up and having to get along with everyone. I hold nothing against everyone else, but the words and actions of one enigma was enough to put my spirits down. And for what reason? Nothing but some quizzical thing that no one can even explain at the moment.

One thing's for sure though. Once I arrive at the arena, I'm only out to do two things: my job and staying away from Brandon Silvestry. He's proving to be just as everyone says he is. Sure, I only got a mere glimpse at the man that has been described to me all too many times but it was enough. Whatever he's really like or whoever he really is, is known to one person and one person alone. And that's the man himself. Figuring him out is now the last of my worries.

I arrived at the arena as early as I usually do. It was during these moments that there was a relative calm amongst everyone. Never mind that this was just a taping and not a big event, everyone still wanted it to be perfect. But that was something to worry about in a few hours. For now, everyone seems satisfied to just be hanging around.

I said hello to the various production guys littered around the place, gave out smiles to wrestlers that looked up from their improvised exercise routines on the floor and was informed of the night's activities by my bosses. After sharing greetings, I made my way to my makeshift office that was really just a regulation locker room that had a desk, an armchair and a couch instead of a long bench.

Remember that other thing I was set out to do? Scratch that off the list. It seems that the man himself isn't going to make it easy on me.

"Why is it that when you're needed, you're hard to find but when you're not wanted around, there you are?" I said with a bite.

"Look, just let me explain," Brandon said pleadingly.

"Explain what?" I asked in mock confusion. "You already said what you thought of us 'stupid' production people. I think that's clear and easy enough for us to understand."

"It was a misunderstanding," he said in defense. "I was frustrated with all the changes last night."

"And you decide to take out your frustrations on helpless crewmembers that have absolutely no room for blame," I said dryly.

"Do you have an answer for everything I have to say?" he asked his voice rising slightly.

"Don't you dare raise your voice at me," I said in a low growl.

He let out a heavy sigh before turning away from me. I moved towards my desk to put my bag down before turning around to him. I saw him with his hands rubbing his shaved head before moving down to rub his face.

"Whatever I said last night, I didn't mean it," he said looking at the ground. "It's just… I wanted everything to be perfect. Last night wasn't perfect."

"And you think we didn't want it to be perfect too?" I asked incredulously. "Hell, I work in production. It's part of my job to want things to be perfect. Yet I'm put into the category that's labeled stupid because of something I don't deserve any blame for."

Another defeated sigh came from his mouth. It was during this time that I saw another side to the man. I've seen him to be unnerving, I've seen him to be stoic, I've seen him to be calm, and I've seen him to be intense. Last night I was able to see him frustrated. But now, what I'm seeing is a quiet sense of vulnerability that is unbecoming of the man I've come to know.

"Why?" I asked out of the blue.

He looked up from his locked gaze on the floor to me with confusion etched in his features. I only raised my eyebrows as an answer to his unspoken question. I know he knows what I meant in asking it.

"Like I said," he started. "I was frustrated."

"That's not enough of a reason," I said.

"You know you're probably the only one that has stood up to me when I get like this," he said wistfully.

If at all possible, my eyebrows shot up even higher. That was certainly not part of the conversation. Seeing my reaction, he went on to elaborate.

"I know you've been told to stay away from me. I know you've been told of just how I am. Yet you still give me the benefit of a doubt by coming near and talking to me," he said.

"It's not like I had a choice," I quipped. "You're the one that approached me to begin with."

"You really do have an answer for everything don't you?" he said with a smirk. My only response was a smirk in return. "I'm not the guy everyone paints me to be even if my actions last night pretty much solidify whatever reputation I have. I'm sorry for what I said. More often than not, I blur the lines of reality and my job. Last night was one of those many moments."

"It's not enough," I said quietly. "That fire was out of the context you're speaking of. And if you stay in character, why blame the crew when you can blame an opponent?"

He must probably be getting tired of how I'm talking to him. But from what he's said, I think people talking back to him is a reality check that he needs practically every day of his life.

"What would it take for you to accept my apology?" he asked with obvious frustration and tiredness with the conversation. "I already said I was sorry. I already admitted I was wrong. What else do you want me to do?"

"Why is it so important that I accept it anyway?" I asked back. "Look, Ki, Senshi, whatever the hell you call yourself. Fine, you apologized to me. But what about everyone else that has heard that heated tirade you made last night? Ever think that maybe they were just as hurt as I was but just didn't have the guts to say it to your face?"

His shoulders slumped and his head dropped down. He looked like a kid that was just told that Santa wasn't real. It was pathetic and cute all at the same time. To see the almighty Low Ki act like a regular human with emotions was a sight I wish everyone in the locker room could see.

"You believe them now don't you?" he asked softly with his eyes never meeting my gaze. "I'm not that guy."

"Prove it."

* * *

**AN: **Yay! An update! LOL I'm currently being attacked by my muse for this one. All good yeah? Not really. It's good when it pops up but when it pops up at random with lots of things to say, it kinda makes you wanna go crazy. So until I get thoughts organized, stay tuned.

Oh yeah, sorry it's a bit short. If I dragged out the conversation, it would be just that - dragging.

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed the last chapter.

- Nef


	7. Left of Center

The night has gone from surprising to odd to mind-numbingly weird. I can't tell you how many times I've been approached with one dumbfounding question since production began. And although I've answered to the best of my ability, I'm not at all certain of the answer either. Even I have to question myself. What the hell did I do to Brandon Silvestry?

Throughout the course of pre-production, shooting promos and up to the middle of the final taping, I've been approached by production staff and crew members alike about their encounters with the man. Apparently, he was apologizing for his actions last night. Of course I had to ask why I was the one being questioned as to what exactly happened to him and why he was acting a little left of center. I was told that my "standing up" to the guy last night has already gone around. That and he was seen coming out of my make shift office earlier.

I guess his bad ass reputation has been wrecked. Or maybe not.

His sudden change of attitude seems to have scared the others even more. They said that he'd usually just cool himself off over time and not apologize less than twenty four hours after the incident. Even Nelson Erazo, known to the world as Homicide, asked what it was exactly that I did to the guy. They've known each other for years and not one time did he know Brandon to be the first to apologize.

I guess Jessie and the others were right. You never really know what to expect with the guy.

* * *

I was talking to Jessie and Gail during the middle of the second taping. In production lingo, we were watching for glitches in transmission and looking for parts to be left on the cutting room floor because of botched spots or fans that are too unruly to show on TV. To the common person though, we were really just bumming around out of boredom. At least until Jessie decided to open up a topic.

"So do you know what's up with Ki?" she asked turning away from the monitor to look at me. Gail sat up straighter and her face perked up with curiosity.

"When are you leaving for your maternity leave again?" I asked dryly.

"Ha. Real funny," she said just as dry. "But seriously, what did you do to the guy?"

"Why? What happened?" Gail asked, unable to control her curiosity much longer.

I was all set to answer with an "I don't know" but Jessie piped up for me.

"She stood up to him last night when he was rambling about the fire," Jessie started. She went on to tell the story of mine and Brandon's encounter last night. "Then today he goes apologizing to the staff about his actions."

"So why ask Mage what happened?" Gail asked. "He could have just realized what an ass he was."

I was about to answer again but there went Jessie.

"Gail, it's LOW FREAKIN' KI! He couldn't have realized it on his own," she explained. "Or if he has, he would have kept apologies to himself because of the male's stupid pride and ego."

"But still, why ask Mage?" Gail asked with a pout, still not getting the situation.

I didn't even bother to open my mouth. Jessie tackled the third question for me as well. It's getting pretty annoying really.

"Coz earlier, **he** was seen coming out of **her** office looking a little distraught," Jessie said matter-of-factly.

Gail's jaw dropped at the statement and she was blinking furiously in disbelief. I was annoyed with Jessie.

"Gee Mage, that's incredible Mage. How did you do that Mage? What did you do Mage?" I mockingly said to Jessie before rolling my eyes and chuckling slightly along with the recovered Gail. Jessie just gave me a sheepish look in return.

"But really, what **did** you do?" asked Jessie with an exuberant nod from Gail as support for the question.

I went on to tell them about the gist of what was said in the locker room before all the weirdness of Brandon Silvestry decided to run amok backstage. Both of them were a little dumbstruck after my recount of events. They couldn't understand either. Join the club.

After their initial reactions, both seemed to sober up but then went crazy on me. They were telling me of their theories as to why he was behaving that way. The resounding one was that he liked me and that he was trying to get my approval of trying to impress me.

"How could he like me?" I asked incredulously. "He doesn't even know me."

"You're about to find out," Gail said mysteriously.

I looked at her curiously only to notice that her gaze was captured by something or someone behind me. Before I even turned around, I knew it was him as he was the topic of conversation. That and the slight smirk of Gail's face paired with the look of apprehension on Jessie's was a little foretelling. Gail turned her gaze on me and told me that they were going to talk to me later. Jessie was rooted to her spot giving me a pointed look. But before she could spout out another warning my way, Gail dragged her away.

"Hi," Brandon said as he tentatively approached.

"Hi," I greeted back.

"So I apologized," he said.

"I heard," I said simply. "Everyone's been telling me."

"Can you forgive me now?" he asked, his voice taking on a hopeful tone.

"I guess so," I said with a nod.

"You guess?" he asked in confusion. "I did what you asked. What else do you want from me?"

"Why is it so important that I forgive you anyway?" I asked with legitimate confusion. "And if you were truly sorry, shouldn't apologizing come natural to you and not be forced into doing it because I told you to?"

"Why can't you get it?" he asked, his tone now sounding of frustration. If he had any hair on his head, I'm pretty sure he would have been pulling at it at this point in the conversation.

"Get what? The reason you're doing this?" I asked with a wave of my hand. "Honestly, I'm as frustrated as you are with how slow my understanding of it seems to be. So why don't you just tell me exactly what I should be getting from all this?"

He looked at me for a moment, boring a hole thru me as he contemplated how he was going to answer. When it looked like he was ready with one, I was preparing for a lashing. Instead, he looked past me for a few seconds before turning to me and gave me his answer in a soft tone.

"I like you, alright?" he said.

And just like how we first spoke to each other, he left as soon as he got his point across. He never even waited for me to come up with some sort of reply. He just left me by that one monitor with a dumbstruck look.

The sound of footsteps broke me out of my confused reverie. I looked to my side and saw James beside me looking at the way Brandon went on with a confused expression.

"What was that all about? You ok?" he asked concerned.

"To be honest James," I said tentatively. "I have no idea what just happened."

* * *

**AN:** New chapter! Yay! I'm happy my muse for this one has seemed to come back to life. LOL

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed: Phoenix, DarkGirlX, Takerslady and foolishangel87.

And oh yeah, if you haven't read her story yet, go to DarkGirlX's profile at and read her first fanfic on there entitled "In the Eyes of a Child". It's worth the read trust me. I got vested interest with it. LOL

In other fic news, aside from my promised sequel to "A Lot of Moxie", I'm also mapping out another story. So you've got a lot to look forward to in the New Year.

Til next time!

- Nef


	8. Get to Know

TNA having tapings that cover two weeks worth of episodes has both good and bad points. Bad point, I don't get to see my friends that live outside of the state for much needed help, opinion and advice on some matters nor am I able to confront Brandon about his revelation. Good point, it gives me time to think of what exactly I would want to say to the guy. Because you have to admit, what he said pretty much came out of nowhere and would stun anyone and render them speechless.

In the days that I had to think over it, I've managed to call James, Gail, Jessie and even Josh and Patrick to talk about it. Gail and Jessie gushed over it, teasing me about him. Josh and Patrick tried to be funny and impersonated him over the phone. James was all brotherly type and going on about hurting the guy. But before I hung up the phone to end our conversations, all of them imparted their advices and warnings on being careful with the guy.

The initial warnings about him made me curious about the guy. The ones after he exploded I took to heart. Now, to be honest, I don't know what to think of them. I'm being told stories of a guy that I've only seen a glimpse of. I doubt that what I saw even came near to who he really is to those people. But more often than not, he acts different. He's softer. He appears to be more caring. A complete and total opposite of who he was **supposed** to be.

I've made up my mind. Despite whatever warning I receive, whatever curious look I get, I'm coming up to him and ask him about it. What does he really want from me?

* * *

Normally, it isn't part of my job to hand out the scripts to the wrestlers. I make sure the wrestlers are on time with following their scripts but I don't hand them out. But I chose to do so with one motive in mind and that is to get some time alone with Brandon. 

Over the two weeks I had to think, I also realized that every time we do get to talk, someone always ends up interrupting us and drags me away or he just leaves. This time, I'm making sure I get everything I need from him before he leaves.

While doing this odd job, I've gotten teases again, particularly from the guys in the X division. How the rest of them found out, I'm sure of. Josh. He didn't even let me leave the room as he went over the script. He informed me of their new angle. Josh, being the kid and subsequent jackass that he is, would be making fun of Brandon's serious demeanor.

I found it ironic. Wasn't that how Brandon and I met? He was ragging on how childish Josh can be. Talk about art imitating life.

And now here I am, standing in front of the locker room that he shares with the likes of Samoa Joe and LAX. I already handed off their scripts when I found them in the catering area a couple of minutes ago and was told by Joe that he was indeed in the locker room. Here goes nothing.

I knocked on the door waiting for the affirmative that the door was open and I was allowed to come in. After hearing his deep voice muffled through the door, I went inside with my breath held deep.

His back was facing me as it appeared that he was retrieving something from his back, but to say that he wasn't surprised once he turned to see who was in the room with him would be an understatement. He looked at me in disbelief for a few moments with nothing to say. And once he did say something, it came off with a worried tone.

"Hey," he said.

I replied to him with the same greeting and handed him his copy of the script. I made the same crack that I had in my mind about art imitating life with his new angle. He just gave me a smirk.

"That's not why you're here though, is it?" he asked me.

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?" he asked acting clueless. I gave him a pointed look that made him let out a sigh. "Yes I did."

"Wha – I… How?" I asked incredulously.

"What do you mean how?" he asked back confused.

"You don't even know me," I said pathetically.

"I thought that was the purpose of the whole dating stage, getting to know each other," he said evenly.

"So now you want to date?" I asked in surprise.

I never realized that I was pacing at this point until he stood up from his seat on the bench and grabbed my shoulders to stop me. I was stunned by the action but calmed down at seeing the expression on his face. I couldn't explain what emotion it was, but it quieted my worries. It was so unlike the first look he gave me that could be described as nothing but unnerving.

"Why are you so scared of the idea?' he asked with a smirk. "I'm not the bad guy that everyone paints me to be."

"It's not that," I said quietly. He raised an eyebrow in response. "It's not. I don't pass judgment unless I see it for myself."

"And what happened before –" he tried to say but I cut him off.

"You apologized and made an effort," I started. "I let that go."

"So the whole 'had to come naturally' line was just trying to make me grovel more, huh?" he said tilting his head to the side.

"No," I said in defense. "It was, um…"

He gave off a low chuckle that sent shivers through my spine. He shook his head as he let go of my arms and I couldn't help but feel cold afterwards. I've already said that I found the guy intriguing but what he's doing now is making me feel something else. Do I like him just as he said he liked me? I don't really know.

"You don't have to explain," he said as he turned to face me again. "I get that whatever it was that I did was a little unsettling and how I handled everything after that was a little weird."

He put his hands into the pockets of his jeans and rocked on the heels of his feet as he finished the statement. I couldn't help but find him adorable. The thought put a small smile on my face. Then it was all quiet. He was still rocking back and forth on his heels and I just kept the small smile on my face as I was looking at him. He raised both his eyebrows and cleared his throat before he said something to break the silence.

"So you've said that I don't know you," he started. "Quite honestly, I'm sure you don't know me apart from what you've been told. So in an effort to erase those lines, would you mind going out with me?"

The smile on my face got bigger at his question. And in what I could say was a very rare moment, he smiled too. I gave him my affirmative answer and said that we'll talk later about details since I still am holding on to a couple more scripts.

I left his locker room with my head in a slight spin. The smile only dropped off my face as I saw Jessie talking to Lee South. I was reminded of what everyone said. But whatever. It's only so long 'til I can go on denying that I'm not attracted to the guy. There, I said it.

I'm attracted to Brandon Silvestry. He asked me out and I accepted. I honestly don't understand how I'm keeping calm about all this. Maybe I can finally prove that he's not that bad.

* * *

**AN: **Another chapter up for ya! To be honest and frank about it, I think this one sucks. LOL Whatever the muse has going, I can't seem to make something better off it. It comes off better in my head than it is on paper or on the screen. GAH! 

Thanks for whatever review you're going to give this chapter though. LOL

And thanks for the reviews of the previous one too!

foolishangel87: Your reviews put a smile on my face. :)

And if you've read DarkGirlX's story, do write a review. She's also supposed to come out with another one, a two-shot this time. Read that one too. ;)

That's it for now.

Nef


	9. Right into It

Despite wanting to keep having been asked out on a date by Brandon a secret, I had no such luck because once I stepped out of his locker room, I collided with the massive chest of Joe Seanoa. He grabbed my arms to prevent me from falling down on my ass and gave me a curious look. He looked up at the closed door that I came out of and then back at me. This motion went on three more times before he raised an eyebrow in question. I guess it didn't help that my cheeks went ablaze as I saw the question in his eyes because no sooner did I start blushing did he start to laugh as he kept dragging me away from the door in an effort to not let Brandon hear.

"Let me guess, you two have a date," he said, more as a statement rather than a question, once he deemed that we were far enough from the locker room area.

My only reply to him was a huge grin and the further reddening of my cheeks which prompted another round of hearty laughter from him. His laughter floated through the hallway and got the attention of several people including Nelson, James, Chris and Chase. The four curious wrestlers approached us while looking amused at Joe's laughing form and curious once they turned to me.

"Don't ask me," I said with my hands raised. "Honestly, I think he needs to be in a padded room."

"What? Hey!" Joe exclaimed as he sobered up. "If you really wanna know, Magic has a dmpff…"

Nelson, James, Chris and Chase busted out laughing. If you had been there, or even heard of it, you would be rolling of the floor laughing your ass off just as they were. Imagine me, all five foot two inches and one hundred fifteen pounds of me, riding on the back of a six foot even two hundred eighty pound Samoan while covering his mouth in an effort to shut him up. Funny, no?

Joe was twisting and turning in an effort to shake me off of him without doing any damage to me but I held on tight.

"Damn!" exclaimed Patrick from behind us. "You're like a freakin' spider monkey that stumbled upon an anthill. You're not letting go."

His out-of-the-blue statement got me laughing which prompted me to drop my hold on Joe's head. That was a wrong move. I landed solidly on my ass.

"Ow! My ass," I said with a whine while still laughing.

"First, are you laughing or crying?" asked Chase. "And second, what ass?"

I dropped my jaw at his second question and clutched my heart feigning hurt. No sooner did a smirk grace his features did I shoot up off the floor and jumped on his back to give him a noogie.

"I may be all nice and playful all the time but no one makes fun of my ass!" I exclaimed as I kept rubbing the top of his head vigorously. "I like my ass, thank you very much."

"To be honest, we like it too," said Patrick with a smirk.

Chase and I stopped moving and just looked at him. Then they all just looked at me and gave me what appeared to be synchronized winks that again had me laughing which sent me back to the floor on my ass. It was mindless really, but it was better for them to be talking and laughing about my butt than having to talk to them about Brandon.

* * *

I just finished shooting a promo of the X division guys that would help further the angle between Brandon and Josh. I can't help but laugh to myself at the dead on impression that Josh was making of Brandon. That and the fact that Tesh was emulating the Karate Kid. 

Before Chris, Jay and Tesh left the area though, they all made comments to the effect of 'nice ass'. As their backs were turned, Brandon was all set to pounce before I put a hand to his chest which surprisingly put a stop to whatever he was planning to do.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Inside joke," I said simply. "You had to be there, or in their case, be told by someone who was there, to find it funny and just let the comment slide. You are too serious at times."

"The nature of my beast," he said eerily staying in character.

If I knew before that agreeing to go out with the guy would bring about his openness with me, I would have done it that night at Denny's.

"Wanna grab a late dinner after the tapings?" he asked tentatively.

"Jessie's 'going away' party is tonight," I said with a hint of sadness.

"Yeah. But I doubt that a pregnant girl like her would be staying until all hours of the night," he said matter-of-factly. "We can show up at her party and just hang out after."

I put my finger to my chin and made the actions to make it appear like I was deeply thinking about it. I dropped the act as I saw him giving me a blank, bored look. I also told him that hanging out would be fine. Hanging out would be perfect.

* * *

Jessie's going away party only lasted for a little longer than an hour but it didn't go without some notable moments. She made lots of cracks as to how when she gets back, she's going to party a lot to make up for lost time then went on to complain that she was tired. The mindless musings of a pregnant woman. You have to love it. 

Holding true to my word to Brandon, we're now hanging out and just talking at a quaint coffee shop a couple of minutes away from where Jessie's party was held. None of our co-workers bothered us for reasons that they never even saw us leave together and that they went on to do their own stuff after the party.

"Tell me the truth then, why Magic?" he asked. "And don't give me that 'my parents were two percent hippies' deal."

"My full name's Mage Isabel-Croix," I started. "MAG from Mage, I from Isabel and C for Croix. I was given the name Isabel because my mom was fascinated with Queen Isabella of Spain, Croix because apparently I was conceived in St. Croix and Mage because my eldest brother was a nerd and loved the whole fantasy deal which I think is also the reason I'm Magic."

"You're brother named you? How old was he then?" he asked.

"He was ten I believe. I'm the youngest in the family with two boys and two girls," I went on knowing where his line of questioning was headed. "I'm close with my parents although I feel like a bad kid for not visiting them as often now. They still live over in California. My siblings are all over the place."

He was nodding his head signifying that he was taking everything I said in. He's been asking me all sorts of questions since we sat down, from my favorite color to what I dreamed of being as a little girl. I think it's just right I turn the tables around.

"So why does everyone keep warning me about you?" I asked out-of-the-blue.

That probably wasn't a good idea since he just took a sip of his coffee and subsequently began to choke on the liquid. He wiped off the few droplets that spilled from his lips and looked at me with wide eyes.

"You just get straight to the point, don't ya?" he asked rhetorically. "You didn't even ask about any personal info."

"I can read on your personal info on the data sheets that I was given as an employee," I said with a shrug. "Anything I want to know isn't on there."

"They just don't get me," he said with his eyes downcast to his coffee mug. "I don't think you do either since you're asking."

"Help me understand then," I said reaching for his hand and smiling when he looked up.

* * *

**AN:** Hurray for the muse working furiously. Now this chapter was completely up to par with the muse. So it doesn't suck. ;) LOL 

Thanks for everyone that reviewed last time. It was great to know that you guys didn't think the last chapter sucked. I wuv you guys. LOL

Thanks to my newest reader for reviewing and adding this to your faves list Total Nonstop Attitude.

The next couple of chapters would be going on about their budding relationship, their co-workers finding out and Mage finding out exactly what Brandon liked in her. If the muses for my other stories waiting in the wings don't bother me too much, expect lots of updates in the holiday season.

If you haven't read it yet, go to DarkGirlX's profile and read and review her stories. They're great! If you need the link, just click on the reviews for this story and find her link there coz I'm too lazy to paste her URL. LOL

And oh yeah! I just recently found out that James Storm's real name is James Black. But because I'm too lazy to edit the many chapters that carries his name, I'll be leaving them as Storm. But if I do mention his full name again in future chapters, don't be surprised if I refer to him as James Black.

That's it for now!

- Nef


	10. My Own Volition

The night of my first date with Brandon ended fairly well. And it was just as he said dating was – a process of getting to know each other better. We talked about almost everything, each other's family, our favourites, odd habits and anything else under the sun. Things took a serious turn when I asked him about all the whispers though.

He was sombre, almost depressing, very much wistful, as if he was contemplating how to really express himself without further alienating him from me because of what I've heard. He said that it was his fault. He was too into himself, or rather, too into the character. But as he went on to explain, his eyes caught fire. He said he loves wrestling. He loves everything about it. It's his life.

Those words were enough of an explanation for me. Wrestling ruled his life and he lived it the best way he knew how – _being_ wrestling.

After that line of questioning was passed, we went to joke about how we came to be in this situation. How I came to TNA, our initial meetings, the disagreement and confrontations. He joked about never breaking character before I came. If the night wasn't approaching day as fast as it was, I would've asked more about that. But alas, that wasn't the case.

Brandon walked me to my car at the parking lot and wished me to have a safe drive home. I wished him the same and to have a good couple of weeks before the next PPV. Before I got to fully turn around to open my door, he grabbed my neck with his right hand and gave me a slow and soft kiss on the lips. He pulled away moments later to see a wide-eyed look from me and only gave a smirk before turning away with one final word of "bye".

I'm seeing a trend with that man. Why is it that every time something of importance happens, he just walks away? I wished hard that the night went on. No such luck.

* * *

It's been a week since my date with Brandon and despite wanting to keep whatever budding relationship we have a secret for the moment, it seems the fates have something else in mind. I've been getting calls all week asking questions as to how it went, what the hell I was thinking and if I got hurt. It's no wonder Brandon treaded carefully with answering some of my questions. These people basically alienated him. And some of them were _his_ friends! 

One time that Gail called to just check up, I asked how everyone found out about our date and she went on to tell me that someone noted that I was nowhere to be found and asked where I was to which Joe answered with a "probably with Ki". And of course, that opened a can of worms that had everyone asking why.

"I just don't get it Gail," I said in exasperation as I was looking thru racks of clothes. Gail took me out for a shopping trip in hopes to cheer me up a bit.

"They don't get it either," she said. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Ok, I don't get it either. I mean, what convinced you to go out with him in the first place?"

I let out an exasperated sigh. Why can't everyone just accept that I went out on a date with him?

"For one thing, I never thought you'd date a wrestler," she went on. "Especially when you commented before that most of the guys don't seem to think the same way you do and that you'd just end up clashing."

Ah, yes. I remember when I said that. It was on another shopping trip with all the girls, including a visiting pregnant Jackie, after a photo shoot and they asked if I took to liking any of the guys.

"Second off," she said breaking into my thoughts, "if you had started to go out with one of the guys, I would have never guessed for him to be the one."

"And who would I go out with?" I asked with both eyebrows raised in accusation. What? Had she been contemplating on who to set me up with or something?

"Don't bite my head off," she said with her hands raised. "So yeah, Jessie and I were planning to set you up with someone. But never him."

"Never, huh? Who then?" I again asked.

"We thought James, Josh or even Chase," she listed off.

"Ok, first James has a new baby daughter and a girlfriend that he loves so much. Plus he acts like he's one of my big brothers. And I already have three of those," I started to explain why I could never go out with the guys she just mentioned. "Josh is a guy to have fun with, too immature for me. And I don't even know how you got Chase in there."

"Well, he's always flirting with you," she said in a weak reply, probably realizing she just cornered herself.

"Gail," I paused. "Chase is **always** flirting with someone."

Gail stopped looking at clothes and turned to me with her eyes blinking repeatedly. After a couple of seconds, she busted out laughing which caused me to laugh out loud as well.

* * *

If only talking to the others were as easy as talking to Gail. But then again, we can't have it all. Needless to say, I was hammered with tons of incredulous looks and warnings once I arrived at the arena for the PPV. 

Tonight was the first night when Josh and Brandon would clash for the X division title with their new angle. So I guess it was appropriate that Josh was the first to approach me about the guy.

"So, um, you and Ki huh?" he asked tentatively.

"Ki has a name," I said dryly.

"Yeah, but I'm not on a first name basis with the guy and I'm scared that if I call him by his name, he's gonna come around the corner and beat me with several kicks," he said pathetically in a little kid's voice.

"It's a name Josh," I said. "I doubt he's willing to do time because of it."

"You never know," he said with a shrug. I just gave him a blank look. "So what's the deal with you two?"

"We went out on a date over coffee," I replied. "That's pretty much it."

"Coffee with Ki," he said with a thoughtful look. "Can't imagine it."

"Whatever man," I said with a roll of my eyes.

"So did Jessie grill ya?" he asked with a nudge to my shoulders.

"Jessie and practically everybody else," I said with a curt nod.

"It's just that we care," he said. I gave him a dark look which made him quick to the save. "Not that we meant he was evil and gonna hurt you or something, but he doesn't have the best track record or the best temperament."

"Don't let your head explode," I said in jest. "You said a big word."

"Ha! Just ha!" he said sarcastically.

"I just don't get why everyone has to busy themselves with my personal life," I said with a frustrated sigh. "So what if I chose to go out on a date with him? It's my life!"

"We know, we're just con –"

"Concerned, I know," I said cutting him off. "But can't you guys do it without making it like he's such a bad guy or like it's a crime?"

He just nodded slowly and gave a smile.

"So how much are you willing to bet that James is gonna grill me even further and with much more heat than you or anyone else?" I joked.

* * *

**AN: **New chapter! She's getting grilled. LOL Next chapter should have more Brandon/Mage goodness. Had to put in some action in the beginning coz some reviewers commented on how they wish that more happened. So there's a little snippet for ya. 

Next chapter should also include Cowboy. And a couple of other things.

Thanks for all the reviews! And I also noticed that I have more than 5-6 readers for every chapter. Way more in fact, so why do I only have 5-6 reviews? Hmm... Reviews are nice. I like them. I like them a lot. So go press the blurple button to the bottom left, and make me happy in time for Christmas! ;p

- Nef


	11. Big Brother's Watching You

On my last count… AH! Who the hell am I kidding? I lost count before I even came to the arena. I've had everyone I regularly talk to come up to me and ask what I was doing with "Ki" and even people that I don't talk to as often have looked at me like I had thirteen heads or something. I've gone thru basically everyone and still no James. I wonder if he's mad. Not much time to wonder though. I have to get to work.

The match between Brandon and Josh seems to be going fine. At least until the Jackass segment comes in. In all honesty, I think the match could have done without it. It just goes to lessen Josh's credibility as a wrestler and performer. And I don't care if Josh, Tesh and Jay do act like the comedians they normally are, you don't bring a blow up Sabin doll to a match.

"Can I talk to you?" said a voice from behind me that made me jump.

"Jeeze James!" I exclaimed with a swat to his shoulder. "Don't sneak up on me."

"Yeah whatever," he said dismissively. "What's this I hear about you and Ki?"

"What is everyone's fascination with us?" I asked throwing my hands up in the air.

"So there's an 'us' between the two of you now?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It was one date!" I said exasperatedly. "We had coffee, we talked and got to know each other. Is that such a crime?"

"I'm just worried about you," he said calmly.

"What's there to worry about?" I asked confused. "I'm a grown up girl James. I think I can handle it."

"I'm just trying to look out for you," he said in defense. "Look, the guy doesn't have the best tra– "

"Doesn't have the best track record and temperament," I said cutting him off. "I know. I've been told several times today. Would you mind telling me something new?"

"Just because you've been told doesn't mean that you know exactly what we mean," he said ominously.

"Thus the reason we're dating," I said tiredly. "Dating is a process of getting to know someone, if you didn't know already."

He sighed as if in defeat. I hugged him around the waste and laid my head against his chest.

"If I even get a hint of him and his evil ways, I'll make sure to run in the other direction, screaming my head off for you to come and save the day," I joked. He snorted and messed up my hair.

"Well, off to my match," he said as he gave me kiss on the head. "And here's my last ditch effort to keep him in line."

He glanced up and glared in a general direction. I vaguely remember hearing the bell ring earlier and was sure about who was behind me. James let go of me and made his way toward Brandon.

"You do anything to hurt her," he said in a low threatening voice. "And I'll do everything to hurt you."

My eyes bugged out of my head and Brandon reared back a bit from James. This was James we're talking about. Beer-drinking, prank-pulling, Elvis-loving James. I never knew he could be this protective.

Wait a minute.

"Are you practicing on me for when your daughter is of age to date?" I asked with an amused laugh.

"Yeah. Is it working?" he joked. "I'm off. See ya!"

"I already have three brothers James! I don't need another one!" I said to his retreating form.

"Three brothers?" Brandon asked, finally making a sound.

"I forgot to mention that my sister's married, thus the third brother," I explained. "Plus, the guy's been around since I was twelve. He practically did grow up smothering me just like the other two."

"Ah," he said while nodding his head in understanding.

"Good match," I said.

"It could have been better without the blow up doll," he said darkly.

"My sentiments exactly," I agreed. "Takes away credibility if you ask me."

"So what's with you and him?" he asked with a voice that sounded odd to me.

"Why? You jealous?" I teased.

"No," he answered lamely. "Just wondering. You seem to be closer to him than most."

I thought about how I acted around James and how I acted around others. The man had a point.

"I guess I am," I said with a shrug. "Maybe you could attribute that to the fact that he acts like a big brother to me. I'm close to my brothers. Having that familiarity with James just helped in getting us closer I guess. That and he's a pretty fun guy to be around. And he's daughter's cute. I'm thinking of stealing her with the façade of offering to baby sit."

"Remind me to keep you away from small, cute kids then," he said dryly but his eyes had a glint in them that I just can't quite figure out the meaning of.

He bid me goodbye as he headed to his locker room to shower and left me to go back to writing the production notes. He left with the promise of talking at the ale house later for the unofficial PPV after party.

Note to self: ask what was on his mind as he commented about little kids.

* * *

**AN:** Can you tell I made a fib with the last chapter? LOL I wrote she had three brothers there when in chapter nine, I mentioned she only had two brothers and one sister. I was too lazy to edit the two chapters so I made the save in this one. Bless my memory. LOL 

Sorry if this chapter's a bit shorter. But if I made it the same length as the other ones, it would have just been dragging. But I did get to set up for an angle that I would be taking this to later on.

Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter. A great big thanks to PsYcHoRoAcH for the review that I have been waiting to read since I started posting my stories on here.

I'm having issues with one of the stories I have waiting in the wings. I know that this site has terms and conditions that prohibit the use of other written material aside from yours (i.e., songs, poems, etc.) and although, I've already broken it by using two songs in "A Lot of Moxie", I'm contemplating about breaking it again. See, the story I'm working on is going to end up as a series of song fictions with a song being the theme for each chapter. For fear of getting reported and blocked from the site, I'm asking readers for a suitable place to have the story hosted. I hope you could help.

That's it. You know what to do.

- Nef


	12. Shock Me

"I feel like I'm in a fish tank, what about you?" I asked.

"Pretty much the same," he said.

We both stopped conversation to look around us. Most of our co-workers were keeping an eye on both of us as if waiting for that one moment that would make any indication as to where our so-called relationship was going. You could easily tell what each of them was thinking by the expressions on their faces. Some wore looks of confusion, some of disbelief, some of interest and even some of wonderment. These people need to get more interesting lives if having to go out on a date with someone proves to be very interesting for them.

Conversation was still between Brandon and I. How can you carry conversation when prodding eyes and curious ears surround you? Agreeing to go out with everyone else was a mistake. But I doubt that we'd be left alone should either of us suggest to go some place else. One or more of them would be bound to follow.

"So what was with the comment earlier? About the kids, I mean," I piped in effort to make conversation flow.

"It's neither the time nor the place to discuss it," he said simply.

"What? Discussing an otherwise deep matter of personality can't be discussed in a bar while surrounded by curious minds trying to pick a budding relationship apart. I never knew that," I said sarcastically.

Brandon scoffed before rolling his eyes and giving me a half smile, half smirk for my efforts.

"Is he smiling?" inquired Christy, just a little too loud which made us look in her direction. "Oops."

Brandon and I shared a look before he grabbed my hand.

"Come on," he said standing up.

"Where are we going?" I asked. "It's not like they're gonna leave us alone anyway."

"Well, we could try," he said evenly.

"We'll follow them in a while," I heard James not so subtly whisper to whomever which just made me shake my head.

"You see," I pointed out to Brandon.

"Yeah, I do," he said in an odd tone.

He pulled me outside of the ale house and I assumed that we were going some place else and made a move towards my car but he pulled me to his side and we walked around the building instead.

"What are you doing?" I asked confused. "Where are we going?"

"What I'm doing is trying to confuse them," he replied ominously. "Where we're going is wherever we end up."

We were only a few yards away from the building when I heard the faint sound of James' voice wondering where we could have gone seeing as my car was still at the lot. Brandon and I were leaning up against a waiting shed which covered us from view of any nosey co-workers. Once they were out of sight, either going back in the bar or just going home, we proceeded to take a walk.

"So, we're basically alone now," I piped up after a moment of silence. "Is this the right time to talk about it?"

"In all honesty, I'm not sure when the right time is," he said with a sigh. "Too early, I guess. I don't wanna scare you away."

"Boy, you stared at me during my first night on the job and basically unnerved me. You confuse me to hell with how you just walk away when we talk. You reamed my job with your tirade. And you continue to surprise me with how different you can really be," I ranted. "If you haven't scared me away after all of that, I doubt anything else you do or say will."

He stopped walking and turned to me with an arched eyebrow.

"What?" I asked.

He just shook his head and continued walking. I threw my hands up in surrender before jogging up to him.

"Seriously man, are you just gonna walk away every time?" I asked with a bemused smile.

Brandon grabbed my hand and pulled me up against him to give me an intense kiss. We must have looked like fools standing in the middle of a sidewalk engaged in a lip lock but I didn't care. And I doubt if he did too.

He wrapped one of his arms around my waist as his other hand caressed my cheek while my hands found their way around his neck. As much as I hated to pull away from the lips of the man that continuously gives me more to be surprised about, I needed some answers.

"How, or why do you do that?" I asked biting on my lower lip, trying to savour the remnants of his lips on mine.

"Do what?" he asked in a deeper, softer voice. Good Lord, the man's voice is lethal.

"Shock me," I said simply as I looked up into his eyes.

"How am I shocking you?" he asked amused as he stepped away from me a little bit. It was only after that movement did I realize that he still had me wrapped in his arms. I liked being in them and just felt cold as he released me.

"By how different you can be," I said softly.

"I told you I'm not who they said I was," he said as he came closer and reached up to brush a stray lock of my hair. "They don't know much about me as a man. They know me as a performer, a co-worker and nothing past that."

"It's a shame then," I said sadly. "I would've loved to share who you are to the rest of the world."

He gave me a kiss on my forehead and draped his arm across my shoulders as we continued to walk.

"Why is it that you walk away when something big happens?" I asked after a few minutes of silence. "I mean, when we first met, you just walked away after saying your piece. When we talk and someone comes by, you leave. When you told me you liked me, you walked away. Heck, even when you first kissed me, you just walked away."

He let out a puff of air and appeared to be thinking before he gave an answer.

"Scared, I guess," he said in a tone of slight defeat. He went on before I could even ask why he felt that way. "After hearing so much about me, I thought you'd react violently. So I just walked away keeping what you looked like and how everything felt without knowing if you felt bad about what I said or did."

"Then you never found out how happy I was after everything," I said softly while squeezing his waist with the arm that was wrapped around it.

He seemed happy about what I said if the kiss he gave me was any indication. We were pretty content with just walking around before he took notice of the time and told me about heading back to our cars.

Once we got back to the parking lot, he leaned against my car and pulled me in front of him and gave me another kiss.

"I'll tell you in a month," he said cryptically. After seeing the confused expression on my face, he decided to continue. "My comment about the kid."

And then, he walked away again leaving me dumbfounded yet happy at the same time. I was seeing more of the man that was Brandon Silvestry and not the man that was known as Low Ki or Senshi. And if it meant that I had to wait to get to know every single detail, I'd wait.

* * *

**AN:** Sorry, the meaning behind his comment will not be revealed until the next chapter. But I thought this was a nice transition in showing that even he has some insecurities.

I got no response as to what to do with a songfic series that I have waiting. Except of course, from DarkGirlX whom I frequently talk to. If you have any suggestions, just pm me or leave them in a review.

Thanks for everyone that reviewed the last chapter.

- Nef


	13. She's Mine

Needless to say, the whole month that Brandon set before telling me the meaning behind his comment got me to do weird things, even weirder than normal as Gail said. She even commented on how we needed Jessie back fast to help me put my head back on straight again. The girl who was usually sitting alone in a corner just watching people do their thing was actually hyper.

Everyone was getting some petty amusement from me, especially the likes of Joe and Nelson. They were Brandon's closest friends in the TNA roster. It was obvious that Brandon wasn't going to budge, so who better to bug than them? They of course, kept to themselves saying that it wasn't their place to tell. They even made mention of how no other person, girl or other, to make Brandon get like how he was recently. They said they weren't going to do anything to make Brandon fuck up. Fuck what up?

The tapings of Impact which covered the three weeks before Bound for Glory were pretty hectic to say the least, so I had little time to hound them with me having to run around supervising promo shoots and whatnot. But the joint TNA-UWF shows that were done leading up to Bound for Glory in Detroit proved to be quite productive for me.

For one, I got to lie back in a more relaxed state and get front row seats to the mayhem that is wrestling since there wasn't much production involved. Two, the amount of attention on Brandon and me was lessening, even if by small increments. Three, we can finally call what we have a relationship.

The justification of what we had came as abruptly as everything else that had something to do with Brandon or at the very least, how he behaves around me. I came storming out of catering after another ribbing from some of the guys. I wasn't mad, more like frustrated at how childish they can be about letting me be with my choices and teasing me about how odd a pair we make.

The people that still kept on me still asked if I was sure about dating the guy, told me to be careful or just made comments about how they never saw it coming. Someone even supported Gail's comments on how they would have first imagined seeing me date Cowboy than Ki. And yes, that person used those names to refer to one of my closest friends and the guy I was going out with. Chase is odd just as well, what can I say?

Walking out of that catering area, I really had no idea where I was going but my feet were moving in one direction or the other. Where that lead me, surprise surprise, I was making my way towards Brandon and I didn't even realize it 'til his hand shot out to prevent me from walking past him.

"_You ok?" he asked with concern written on his face._

"_Yeah, just another day backstage, you know?" I said meekly in response. He nodded his head in understanding. I was sure he picked up what I meant._

"_Don't worry about them," he said with a shake of his head. "What they have to say doesn't matter anyway."_

"_I can't help but feel hurt though," I said with sadness._

"_Why? Haven't you heard of the saying 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me'?" he asked._

"_It's not that," I said with a shake of my head. "It's just… what they keep saying about you kinda hurts me."_

"_Why would it hurt you?" he asked confused._

"_Well if you haven't figured it out yet," I said with a roll of my eyes before smirking at him. "I like you. And hearing those things hurt, because it's not true."_

"_You said it yourself, it's not true. Don't let it get to you, it doesn't matter. **They** don't matter," he said pointing in a general direction before pulling my body closer to his. "It's you and I that do."_

Seal that conversation with a kiss, and as Joe, Nelson and even Shawn proclaimed, we were officially a couple.

That leads us to now, Bound for Glory in Detroit Michigan. The first TNA PPV outside of Universal Studios in Orlando since it was made the six-sided ring's home. To say that tensions were high would be an understatement.

Everyone from the higher ups to the roster to crew members wants to make this as close to perfect as possible. Even Josh, who lived a mere fifteen minutes away from the arena arrived hours early much to Brandon's liking. Everyone knows how much of a perfectionist he can be. If you happen to forget, I have three words for you… Hard Justice fire.

But anyway, everyone was displaying an incredible work ethic that none have ever displayed before. Everything's been checked, double-checked and even triple-checked. Matches have been practiced to refinement and sets were polished to near perfection. This was history in the making. We all wanted it to be memorable for everyone.

The advantages of coming to work early and everyone being cooperative is that chances are, you can get finished early. It was still two hours to show time but whatever pre-taped promos that were needed were already completed, whatever production changes were done, notes were handed out, scripts have been ran through. All that was really left was for the show to air.

It was during these two hours 'til show time that I found myself walking down the hall towards Brandon's locker room that he once again shared with the members of LAX and Joe. I saw Brandon just as I turned around the corner and he made his way over to me as soon as he saw me.

"Ready?" he asked a bit tentatively before giving me a soft peck on the lips.

"For what?" I asked confused.

"You forgot that I was supposed to tell you something, didn't you?" he asked amused.

I smiled sheepishly in reply to which he responded with a smirk and a shake of the head. I remember that he has something to tell me, heck, it's what I've been hounding him about for weeks. Call it a temporary lapse in memory because of the chaos that needed to be controlled in order to make the show work great.

He intertwined our hands as he pulled me in the direction of his locker room. Once we reached the door, he hesitated in opening it which made me look at him in curiosity. This man was usually very composed and sure of himself yet he's been left as nervous energy as he stands in front of his own locker room door.

I gave his shoulder a nudge making him turn to me with a nervous smile. I just squeezed his hand in an effort to comfort him, kind of to show that whatever it was that he has to tell me, I was there.

He finally opened the door to reveal Nelson and Joe sitting on the floor, Xbox controllers clutched in their hands while Shawn was seated on one of the long benches with a little girl, who was probably no more than three years old, sitting on his lap cheering on one or the other to kill off the opposing character of a fighting game.

As soon as the soft click of the door sounded, the little girl's head turned towards us. A big smile broke onto her face showing a set of teeth with one upper front tooth missing. She struggled a bit to free herself of Shawn's hold before she ran towards Brandon screaming "daddy" in the process.

Brandon let go of my hand as he crouched down to catch the little girl who flung herself at him. He gave her a soft kiss on the cheeks before he turned to me. I could faintly make out the concerned looks the other three guys exchanged in the background as I smiled in greeting to the little girl.

"Magic," he said with a deep sigh. "This is my daughter Amaya."

* * *

**AN: **Here's my present to all of you reading, the revelation of what Brandon meant. Mind you, this is fiction. I don't know if he has a son/daughter, how oldhe/she is or his/her name. All I know, as it is listed on his myspace, is that Low Ki is a proud parent.

I've gotten reviews and pm's as to how I have a penchant to bring some reality into my work. As with every piece of writing that deals with real people, some research is involved in efforts to make your story as believable as possible despite it being fiction. If this fiction was otherwise listed under the fantasy genre, then I would deal with it in whatever way. Now if said research was to affect the story in some way, then so be it. I hope no one gets offended or whatever. I don't own the characters, just the OC and the fictional daughter Amaya, I've already said that in the very first chapter of this story. Having to repeat it would be too much. If you have to be reminded of that everytime, then you shouldn't be reading fanfiction in the first place.

With that said, thanks to everyone that has reviewed. I hope you all had/are having a wonderful holiday season!

-Nef


	14. Amaya

"Can you say hi Amaya?" he asked in a low whisper to the little girl in his arms.

"Hi," she said shyly before burying her face into his neck. He gave a soft chuckle as his daughter wriggled down from his arms and went back to sitting on Shawn's lap.

Brandon then turned to me as he put his hands in his jeans pockets. An awkward silence fell between us with the fighting game's music as our only background. What made the situation more awkward was the fact that I could feel the eyes of two LAX members and a Samoan on us.

Said silence was broken however when Amaya cried out.

"Unca Joe! Unca D killed you!" she hollered.

Nelson, or D as he was called, turned to the screen just in time to see the replay of the fatality that Joe did on his character. A miniscule version of hell broke out between Nelson and Joe as they went on about cheating and taking advantage of opportunity. Shawn, Brandon and I just shook are heads while having Amaya's laughter echo throughout the room.

"Look Mage," Brandon tried to say. "I know that it may come as a sh – "

"Is Mage here?" asked Bill Banks who popped his head thru the door after a swift knock, effectively interrupting Brandon. "There you are. Jeff needs to talk to you. He muttered something about Sting that I couldn't really understand."

I heard Brandon blow out a heavy sigh and turned to look at him to find him looking up at the ceiling. I grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and gave an apologetic smile once he looked at me. I walked out of the room soon after.

Before I was too far away from the door, I heard Brandon's desolate voice.

"I told her too soon."

* * *

The mutters that Jeff went on about Sting happened to do with his face paint. Several production assistants were scouring nearby stores for a bottle while the few that were left made sure that everything else ran smoothly. The show kicked off a couple of minutes earlier with the Kevin Nash X-Division thing well on its way. Don't ask me to say the full name of the competition, I don't know it.

I was back to my old ways of people watching from a dark corner as I looked carefully at the interaction between Brandon and Amaya. Everyone seemed to fall in love with the girl and only backed away slightly after learning of who her father was. Lord, please don't let the girl notice what was happening around her. That has to hurt if she ever found out.

Brandon seemed to be a natural at being a father, although he was quite quirky, for lack of a better term, at it. For his personality, I would have assumed that he was more like a predator protecting its latest kill. Harsh, I know, but he comes off as that. But he wasn't like that. He wasn't even the protective type that would keep his daughter by his side at all times. To me, he seemed somewhat scared. Of what, I'm not quite sure.

"Didn't I tell you that it's rude to stare?" piped a voice behind me that made me jump.

"Damn it! Don't do that," I said as I whacked him arm with a roll of papers.

"Please tell me that he told you about the girl instead of finding out much like everyone else," James said.

I proceeded to tell him about how Brandon told me about Amaya as he questioned my feelings on it. James went on to tell me to not hold anything against Brandon. Odd.

"Wait. Are you backing him up James?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow.

"I understand where he's coming from," he said with a shrug. "Need I remind you that I have a girlfriend as well as a baby daughter that isn't hers?"

I gave a sheepish smile in reply. I fully understood where James was coming from, and even Brandon to a certain degree.

"As your adoptive, maybe unwanted, big brother," James said interrupting my thoughts, "it's my job to sort you out sometimes. He may not be my first, or even thousandth, choice for you but I can tell you've been happy in the short while that you've been together. And you know I'm all for letting the love spread around. GAH!"

"What?" I looked at him oddly as I heard him scream.

"Jamie D," he said in a quiet voice while pointing to her on the screen. "She still scares me."

"Get outta here," I said while shaking my head.

James just tipped his cowboy hat as he made his way out of the dark corner I was in. I was again left to do my job and to tend to my thoughts.

* * *

My eyes have been glued to the screen for several minutes now, starting from the moment that his entrance music played. I knew the outcome of the match, he'd be losing the title, yet I was still mesmerized by what was going on in the ring. He was different out there as compared to when he's with me. Sure, he remains as serious and stoic as ever despite very few breaks in character. But the intensities are different, one's violent, the other one's caring. My thoughts on Brandon's personality were broken however when I felt a slight tug on my pants.

"Hey Amaya," I said when I found her at my feet. "Why aren't you with your uncles?"

"They was talkin with mister Konnan and I was bored," she said innocently. "Have you seen my dad?"

I smiled softly at her and nodded before picking her up. I pointed towards one of the screens and saw as her face lit up showing two dimples on her chubby cheeks. It fell slightly however once the bell rang and she figured that her father lost. But her words after the fact solidified that she was his daughter.

"That's ok. My dad's gonna punch bags and run and pick up barbells and then he's gonna come back and get the belt again," she said with determination.

I smiled big for her and nodded in affirmation to her statement. It wasn't long after that I heard voices filled with worry followed by one filled with franticness.

"Man, I don't know how to say this but um," one voice said in apprehension.

"We kinda lost Amaya," said another.

"What?!" hollered Brandon before he went ballistic and repeatedly shouted out his daughter's name over and over.

Amaya screeched for him as we walked away from my spot.

"Looking for this one?" I asked with a small smile that turned into slight surprise as Brandon shuffled over to us and engulfed both myself and his daughter in a hug.

After plucking her from my arms and planting her on the floor, he proceeded to lecture the girl about leaving his uncles to which she comically replied with an 'I was bored' with a huff and crossed her arms across her chest. I chuckled at the display of a little girl looking up defiantly at her father whose hands were situated on his hips while trying to look mad. Everyone else was just standing there either admiring the same display or murmuring.

Hearing my light laughter, Brandon looked up at me with a question in his eyes. I told him to get cleaned up and just meet me at my spot if he wanted to talk to which he replied with a nod. He picked up Amaya and walked away. But before they were out of my sight, Amaya turned in her father's arms and gave a coy smile and a wave goodbye to me.

* * *

**AN:** Sorry for the delay folks, but here's another chapter for all of you to read. I don't really have an excuse for not updating with my usual speed. I just turned into a bum in the week between Christmas and New Year's. LOL

I'm gonna have to say that the next chapter would mark the beginning of this story's end. I'm thinking that it would end up being less than 20 chapters. That's 5 chapters more than what I originally thought this would be. Not bad for my first request fic, eh?

I've gotten a good Christmas gift because of this story. This one only has a little over half the chapters as compared to "A Lot of Moxie" yet it has surpassed the number or reviews I got for it. Not to mention surpassed every other statistic when comparing the 2 stories. So to everyone that has read this, thank you very much.

Keep checkin' my story page over the next couple of weeks if the alerts system still doesn't work. I'm going to start putting up the sequel to "A Lot of Moxie" which would be entitled "To Get Me To You".

That's it.

- Nef


	15. Not Too Soon But Too Late

The six sides of steel tag match is well under way and I've yet to see Brandon again. Maybe he's already left to take care of Amaya. In all honesty, I would prefer that just so I could get more time to gather my thoughts together. True, James may have helped me clear my thoughts on Amaya but my thoughts on Brandon still aren't clear. Why should it matter that he has a daughter from someone else? I shouldn't have been bothered in the first place but look at how I am now. The more time he takes to get to talk to me, the better for me… or maybe not.

I was rooted to my spot once I turned around and even let out a short gasp at seeing Brandon comfortably situated on a crate looking right at me.

"Where's Amaya?" I asked seeing as she wasn't with him and two of her 'uncles' were in the match going on. I had to do a mental second take at my question out of surprise. And apparently, I wasn't the only one.

"You're concerned about her?" Brandon asked sitting up straighter.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked with slight incredulity. "You were panicking at her so called disappearance earlier and it doesn't hurt that she's a cute and funny little girl that anyone could easily fall in love with."

"Oh dear God," he said with a shake of his head. "What has she been saying?"

"Not much," I said with a shrug as I jumped up to sit on the crate beside him while still having clear view of the monitors. "She just said that it's ok that you lost coz, and this is in her words, you're gonna punch bags and run and pick up barbells and then come back and get the belt again," I said in a teasing manner.

Brandon chuckled to himself before telling me that she was asleep. He even showed me a picture that he took with his phone of the little girl asleep. You couldn't help but coo and laugh at the same time at seeing the girl in question lying atop what looked to be Joe's duffle bag. What was even funnier was seeing the picture of the owner of the bag himself in the midst of scratching his head, wondering how to take the bag from underneath the sleeping child.

"She's a gorgeous little girl Brandon," I said softly. "You must love her so much. But at the same time, I can tell you're scared of what she means."

He turned to look at me sharply. I was wide eyed as I stared at the monitor and mentally kicking myself in the ass for what I said. I only turned to face him as he placed his hand on my arm.

"What makes you say that I'm scared?" he asked softly with his voice hinting of wonder.

"It was how you held her," I answered in a quiet voice. "You held her like you were scared that she'd disappear… or that she'd make someone else disappear."

Brandon let out a deep sigh before going on about his daughter and her mother. He went on to say that they had a pretty normal relationship until the schedule of being a wrestler took its toll. He caught Amaya's mother cheating and found out later that she was pregnant. He said that he wasn't even sure that Amaya was his until the paternity test came out a few months after she was born. Today was one of the rare days that his ex-girlfriend let Amaya go with him to an event because of the relative closeness of Detroit to New York as opposed to that of Florida. He then went on to say that Amaya was to be with him for the rest of the week and that they were going to Disneyland the day after Impact tapings. Why he was telling me all this, I have no clue… until now.

"Come with us," Brandon said simply.

"Is that a question or a command?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. He just looked at me blankly. "It's a family outing Brandon. I wouldn't wanna intrude on the little time you have with her."

"She wants you there. She was going on and on about how pretty you are and how beautiful your smile was and how nice you were to her," he said trying to convince me.

I was contemplating on what to say just as the members of LAX came thru the tunnel with the tag belts. I smiled big in congratulations as they asked Brandon of Amaya's whereabouts. After he explained where she was, he told them to make sure to be quiet when in going in the locker room. Brandon then looked at me, still waiting for an answer. When it seemed that I wasn't making any decisions, he went on to say something else that made me agree to go.

"I want you there."

* * *

Impact tapings went on without a hitch after the successful showing of Bound for Glory. A lot of people backstage, crewmembers and wrestlers alike, found it oddly comical to hear the fans booing at the mention of Detroit. Then again, it's the first time since TNA planted its roots in Orlando that the so called cult fans were deprived of seeing a PPV live.

Everybody was a busy body that day hoping to work off the energy everyone got from Bound for Glory. The move to prime time and the two-hour primetime debut was upon us which made everyone have something to work hard for. And of course, the beginnings of Vince Russo's storylines and scripts have been put into action.

Brandon wasn't impressed. He wasn't to become part of any title matches any time soon, just random X division matches until another Kevin Nash experiment of sorts to which he voiced his opinions to with a scoff. I had to shake my head at him. I can't blame him though. He loves the business especially if it means he gets a belt.

So that leads us to now. It's about nine in the morning and I'm waiting for Brandon to pick me up from my apartment so we could head to Disneyland. Cue the knock on the door. That should be him.

"Hey!" he greeted me with a chaste kiss after I opened the door. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I answered before as I pulled the door shut.

"You look great by the way," he said. I looked down at myself and confirmed that yes, I was still wearing the plain green tank top and black capri pants I pulled on earlier and just looked at him weirdly. He just shook his head and proceeded to open the passenger side door of his rental car.

"Hey Amaya!" I greeted the child sitting comfortably in her car seat at the back. "How are you?"

She responded with a shriek and clapping to show how excited she was and went on to say how she was going to meet all her favorite Disney characters, see Cinderella's castle and ride on several rides. I just giggled at the girl's exuberance.

Brandon and I chatted idly throughout the way while a hyper Amaya kept voicing everything that she wanted to do. Brandon agreed with her on it saying that we'll do all that. I cast a glance at him when a comfortable silence fell upon us to see a small smile playing on his lips. I can't help but think that he looked pretty content.

* * *

We rode on many rides, played a lot of the games and even won a few, taken lots of pictures and overall just had a lot of fun. I was cradling a very tired Amaya on my lap as she fought sleep to see even just a glimpse of the fireworks that Disney regularly holds at the end of each night.

"Do you want me to take her?" Brandon asked.

I was set to answer him but Amaya spoke up for me with a very defiant 'no' paired with the actions of tightening her little arms around my neck and snuggling her face into my chest which made Brandon and I share a small chuckle.

"She's never taken to anyone like she has to you," he said in slight amazement and then muttered something a little after.

"What?" I asked turning to him.

"It was nothing. Just some mindless musings," he said. "And to think I was worried about you meeting her. I thought it would have been too soon."

"You didn't have to worry," I started. "She's very much a part of you. If I truly cared, having Amaya or five other kids around wouldn't have mattered. And it doesn't, trust me. It wasn't too soon at all. To tell you the truth, I think it was too late."

Brandon looked at me quizzically after hearing that statement.

"It's too late for you to have doubts about my meeting her," I said in start of an explanation as I looked down to see a now sleeping child in my arms. "It's too late because I've already fallen in love with this little angel."

* * *

**AN: **Awww... LOL Update! Yay! Yup, this one is definitely nearing it's closing. Sorry if you had expected this one to be longer, but I don't really think I would have been able to keep it up with the many thoughts playing inside my head. I've made mention of the sequel to "A Lot of Moxie" and a songfic series, so that's 2 things going on. Recently, I've had another muse show up for another story. I seem to be big on TNA stories. All my stories, written or otherwise, focus more on it.

In the next week or so, I should have put up around 1 to 3 chapters to the sequel to "A Lot of Moxie". I haven't bothered to open my email yet to see if the alerts are working already or not, so check back on my profile or the list of updated stories to see if I have it up. If not, feel free to leave me spam messages on yahoo messenger: roguewave823. I'd love to chat with other writers too. Also, for those that don't know, leave a message, in a review or otherwise, as to who you think would end up with Nik in the sequel. I've gotten everyone from Josh to Andy to Petey. I would love to hear who you think it is. Leave a reason too if you'd like. LOL

That's it for now. Thanks to everyone that's reviewed. For those that haven't yet, please do leave a review before this one ends.

- Nef


	16. Got Me Questioning

The day at Disney with Brandon and Amaya was such an amazing day for me. I got to spend it with one amazing little girl that could make anybody fall in love with her and a man that I was pretty taken with. But as happy those memories make me, they also lead me to be confused. That day happened two weeks ago. That day was the last I heard of Brandon.

I was expecting his call even after he dropped me off. Even if it was just to say that he got to his hotel ok and that Amaya was safely tucked in her bed, I would have still welcomed that late night call. But no call came. Not even in the span of the two weeks after it. To say I was confused would be putting it lightly.

If I had to be honest, I wouldn't really know what to do once I see him at the tapings later on. I keep wondering if I did anything wrong to make him just dismiss me like that. I don't know how to act. Should I just act like nothing was wrong? Should I confront him about it? Or should I just completely avoid the guy?

Maybe this is another one of those things that got people talking about him. If it is, then he's more fucked up than anybody thought. Being some sort of mark and being too into the business I can understand but just leaving things up in the air is just wrong. Actually, I doubt that he'd do that. He's too much of a perfectionist to just leave things alone, unfinished and undisclosed.

As much as I want to know what's going on inside of his head though, I'm quite scared too. The last time he voiced his strong opinions he ended up belittling my job and got us in an argument. Sure, that lead us to where we are now but I still don't want to face up to his temper.

Maybe I'm just reading way too much into this. But then again, he didn't call for two weeks. He didn't even leave a message. Any woman in my position would get the thought in her head that she did something wrong. Did I do something wrong? Why am I fussing over this so much? And why does it hurt?

* * *

I walked into the studio with my shoulders slumped and my head down. I was half hoping that none of my friends would be here yet or that they would be to busy to take notice of my attitude. The other half was wishing that they were in hopes that they could help me clear my head. I was completely hoping that I don't run into Brandon however. I still don't know what to do about that situation and would rather see him when I actually have a point to get across.

"Abra cadabra! Hey Magic!" greeted a very chipper James.

I looked up at him and forced out a smile. I felt bad when I saw his cheeky grin fall off his face and was replaced with worry.

"Are you ok?" he asked his voice filled with concern.

"Physically I am. Emotionally…" I trailed off and just shrugged.

"Brandon?" he asked again.

"He's just confusing me," I said with a deep sigh. I went on to tell him about the events of the past two weeks in between sighs of frustration.

I was known as the calm one backstage, only lashing out if anything I held dear, like my job, my family or my friends, is being mistreated or second-guessed. I was sure that James is finding this all too confusing as well. I wasn't expecting him to help clear my mind. He hardly even knew Brandon and doesn't exactly run in the same circles as he does. I guess I just needed someone to vent out my feelings to.

"I don't know what to tell ya kid," he sighed out.

"I wasn't expecting you to know," I said sitting down on the bench in his locker room. "The only one that really knows would be the man that seems to be avoiding me."

James shook his head, made his way over to me and pulled me to my feet. He then gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead all while telling me to not worry so much. I had to keep my head up he says and that it doesn't seem like I did anything wrong at all. Maybe it's Brandon that just needs to figure some things out instead of me.

James was still holding onto me when Chris, Chris' wife and James' girlfriend Candice came into the room. We separated and I presented a teary smile out to the group. The girls immediately flanked my side as Chris raised an eyebrow in James' direction. They all asked if I was alright and I just waved off the question dismissively and said that I was just being stupid.

"You can never be stupid Mage," Chris said comfortingly. "And no one has the right to make you feel like that."

For the first time in two weeks, I felt a genuine smile grace my lips. I hugged Chris in gratitude for the words before bidding goodbye to them and making the excuse that I had to start work or else get myself fired.

I made my way out of the locker room and tried to get my head on straight to be able to do my job properly. I need to check cards, make sure everything is set for pre-tapes, scripts to help look over and whatever else. Let's hope I don't see Brandon anytime before I'm ready or else I might get thrown off again and just screw this up royally.

* * *

It was in between tapings that Chase came over to me making goofy faces that you just couldn't help but laugh at.

"Finally, I see a smile on ya," he said while doing some sort of victory dance. I just looked at him quizzically and asked him if he went off his rocker. "I've never even been **on** my rocker Mage."

"Right," I said with wide eyes. "Should I go run in the other direction now?"

"Nope, I won't hurt ya unless you give me reason to," he said as he threw an arm across my shoulders. "So what's got you in a pissy mood? Well, not really pissy, just plain pathetic."

"Thanks Chase," I grunted sarcastically after brushing his arm off me. He playfully clutched at his heart at my actions before prodding me for an actual answer. "Just confused about personal stuff."

"Brandon giving you the brush off?" he asked.

"How'd you know? Did James tell you?" I asked.

"Not really," he said hesitantly. "I kinda saw something odd. And then I saw how you were acting the whole night and just put two and two together."

"Isn't it my job to be the observant one that does people watching?" I joked.

"You're off tonight so I took the role on," he joked back. "I kinda saw Brandon avoid going down a hallway that you were working at."

"Oh," I said sadly.

"Sorry if that brought you down," he said giving me a hug.

"Nah, it's ok," I said with a shrug but my eyes contradicted what I said because I felt them tearing up.

"It's never ok when it ends up giving you tears," he said wiping at my eyes.

"If anything else, it just makes me realize that it's not me that has the problem," I said. "The only thing is that I don't know whether I want to ask him about it or just completely ignore it."

"Whatever happens, you need some sort of closure," he said rubbing circles on my back.

"When'd you get smart?" I joked.

"I was always smart," he said sticking his nose up in the air in a snobbish manner. "You just refused to see it."

We laughed a little bit and was only stopped when Chase's laughter suddenly died off.

"Something wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"I think I might have caused you some more grief," he said pointing at a certain direction.

I looked at the way he was pointing at just in time to see Brandon's retreating back. That's it. I don't care if I don't have anything solid to say or ask. I just need to know what is going on in that man's head. The sooner I do, the more at peace my mind could be.

I'm just hoping that it wouldn't put an end to whatever we have. To be honest, I like what we have no matter how unlikely we were as a couple. I don't want to see it end when it never even really began.

* * *

**AN:** Finally an update!!!

Sorry there's not much of Brandon in this one. I just figured that I needed to focus on Mage's thoughts before things really get serious for her and Brandon. So the next chapter should have Brandon play a very big part. Just thinking of the next chapter makes me realize even more how this one is coming to an end.

Thanks to the readers that have been waiting so patiently for this update. I have another set of exams this week plus my job so expect updates come weekend. If you're lucky enough that I find inspiration strike me in the middle of a breather, then I might give you something. But don't hold your breath, it's not really likely. LOL

Also, I would like everyone who's reading this story to check out my other in-progress story To Get Me To You. I've been getting several hits for each chapter I put up but only get regular reviews from four readers and fellow authors. So thanks to foolishangel87, takerslady, Phoenix, and DarkGirlX.

Speaking of DarkGirlX, go over to her profile and read her new story House of Cards. I don't even know why I'm still plugging it considering that it's already got a couple of new reviewers for her. But still, I'm trying to be a nice friend. It's gonna be a good story and a wonderful read. Trust me on this one.

That's it for now. Thanks again to all that has reviewed.

- Nef


	17. Breakout

"Brandon, wait!" I screamed after him while running as fast as my little legs could muster.

He stopped just right in front of the locker room he shared with the guys of LAX and Joe. He looked like he was about to turn the knob to open the door and completely shut me out but I was quite surprised to see that he still turned around to face me. Albeit he had an exasperated look on his face like this place and this time was the last thing he had in mind.

"Can we talk?" I asked out of breath but with a hopeful tone.

"What's there to talk about?" he asked evenly.

I was taken aback by his tone. If you heard it in passing, it was just a simple question. There was no malice laced with the tone he used to ask it. But the way his voice contained no emotion while his face still displayed that tired look like he wanted to be anywhere else than here, was enough to make whatever hope I had fall.

"Why haven't you called?" I tried again. "Did I do something wrong? Is there trouble? What?"

"One, telephones work two ways," he started. "Two, not really. Three, quite possibly. And four… never mind."

I looked up at him with a confused expression. He did nothing but lean against the wall, look up at the ceiling and give out a deep sigh.

"It's just that I don't know where I am with you," he said after a few moments without any indication of expounding on his statement.

I was left even more confused than before. Just before I had the right question to ask, I was interrupted by Bill Banks who informed me that the second taping, the two-hour primetime debut, was about to begin.

I looked back at Brandon with wide apologetic eyes. He did nothing but shake his head and go thru the locker room door and out of my sight.

* * *

Throughout the course of the taping, I tried to keep busy and acted pretty much like a chicken with its head cut off. Sure, everyone was acting that way in trying to make the show as close to perfect as possible, but what I was doing, as Jeff Jarrett has said, was a little too much. I took on my job on taking production notes and taking care of pre-tapes as well as several other odds and ends just to keep my mind occupied by anything or anyone other than Brandon.

The ladies, particularly Gail, took notice of my haggard and desolate appearance and tried to get me to cough something out. I held my ground and just shook her off. She tried to prod me further but was only held back by James and told her to just let me be for the moment.

But now, the tapings are done. I'm done with filing papers. Some wrestlers have already left. I had no more means left to shake off whatever troubles I had in mind. I was walking back from Jeff's office after handing in my paperwork when Chase and Andy blocked my way with questions of how I was doing.

"You look even sadder than before," Chase noted sadly. "Listen, I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" I asked confused.

"If he hadn't seen you and me hugging…" he trailed off. Before he could continue with another thought, I opened my mouth to stop any other thought of his.

"You had no fault in whatever the problem is between me and Brandon," I said as I put my hand up to quiet him. "A problem was there before he even saw us. What the problem is, I have no idea. What had you thinking you were at fault?"

Both Naturals just looked towards each other before turning back to me and shrugging.

"I guess he was just trying to alleviate things in a way," Andy said trying to rationalize Chase's apology.

I shook my head and told them about what happened when I caught up to Brandon earlier. I expressed how more confused I had gotten instead of gaining a clearer point of view on the matter. Neither of them knew what to do or say. Both just chose to give me a hug in comfort, Andy giving me a quick one and Chase giving me a longer one as I had started to tear up again. I swear I have never cried this much. I'm being such a baby!

"Ssh, baby," Chase whispered into my hair. "It's gonna be alright. You'll see."

"I guess I know where that puts me," Brandon said spitefully from a few feet behind Chase. "I wish you and your new boyfriend the best of luck."

Chase, Andy and I gawked at what he said and only shook it off as he turned to leave. I was going to go up to him but Chase beat me to it.

"Look man, whatever you're thinking – "

I'm pretty sure Chase was going to say that whatever Brandon was thinking had no truth behind them but his was interrupted by a flying right fist from Brandon. Having not expected the punch, Chase fell to the ground and looked up shocked at Brandon as he held his jaw. Being the natural-born fighter that he was, Chase leapt back up and gave a fist of his own to Brandon.

I was rooted to my spot not believing that this was actually happening until I noticed that Andy was still standing beside me and looked to be shocked as well. I screamed for him to try to stop them and only when I saw him run toward the two in an effort to separate them did I start to address the two fighting men.

"Guys, stop it!"

I was getting frantic seeing how Andy couldn't contain the fight. If he tries to get a hold on Chase, Brandon would take cheap shots. If Andy took hold of Brandon, Chase would just tackle him to the wall.

As much as I didn't want anyone to know about this fight, I was glad someone else came in to help Andy.

"Scott, help!" I pleaded loudly to Scott Levy who I saw running down the hall.

He grabbed hold of Chase, the bigger of the two fighting men, as Andy took hold of Brandon. The two continued to struggle against their human restraints before finally huffing and settling on giving glares on each other.

"As much as I'd like to see some good ol' action, this is not the time nor is it the place," Scott said evenly. "Andy and I will only let go once the two of you calm down and apologize for whatever the cause of this spat the two of you have is."

Even if the fight has seemed to cease with the restraining presences of Andy and Scott, a crowd of crewmembers and wrestlers, including James, gathered by the hallway in which we were standing. I could faintly hear whispers of questions about what was going on along with a few theories of what has gone down. I looked at them harshly and had caught James' attention. He came near our hostile group and ushered us towards a locker room which incidentally belonged to Scott.

"I figured that whatever it is that needs to be discussed, doesn't need to be done in front of an audience," he said. "And although this is more than enough people to already be considered an audience, we'd all rather be here than have another fight or someone's tears go off."

I could tell that the last part of his statement was meant for me. I looked down in embarrassment and sadness that had James approach me and put me in a hug. Without even seeing it, I could feel tension mount and it was no doubt coming from Brandon.

"Just what is your problem man?" Chase asked heatedly.

"You are!" he answered back just as heatedly.

"Just stop it will you?" I half screamed, half cried. "Both of you are being completely stupid."

"Well if it isn't for him trying to make a move on you, this wouldn't have happened right now," Brandon hollered at me.

"Don't raise your voice at her! And where the fuck did you get that idea?!" Chase asked in sheer disbelief. "I've been known as a flirt, sure, but I ain't never one to move in on someone else's girl."

"Things can change," Brandon said defiantly. "And you decided to change on **my** girl!"

"If you don't watch your mouth boy, I'm pretty sure she'll no longer be yours," Scott said from across him. "Have you even considered where Magic stands in all this?"

All the men turned towards my direction and were all greeted with the sight of me slumped against the wall and crying into James' shoulder.

"I don't know if you even cared to notice man," Chase said quietly, quiet enough to convince Scott that he was calm enough to be let go of. "But she's been like that the entire night. Whatever you thought about me 'moving in' on your girl was me trying to comfort her and not make you look like such a jackass."

The room was quiet after his statement which made me look up at all the men standing and staring at me with sad eyes. I saw Scott's peaceful eyes, Chase's apologetic ones, Andy's worried ones and Brandon's hurt-filled ones. The last pair of eyes I saw were James' fiery ones.

"I told you before that if you did anything to hurt her…" James trailed off. I could feel him tense up and just held onto him tighter for fear of him lunging at Brandon.

"I never meant to hurt her," Brandon said quietly. It was his turn to be let go of by Andy. "I was just confused."

Chase scoffed and mumbled incoherently but appeared to be coherent enough for Scott who gave him a slap to the back of the head. As Chase glared at Scott, everyone else was fixated on Brandon's explanation.

"I was confused. I didn't know how to act. I had to clear my head before anything else. Once I finally had a grasp of what was going on, I find her in **his** arms," he said pointing to Chase, "not once, but twice, saying the things that I should have said and doing the things that I should do."

"This seems like a conversation meant for just the two of you. We'll leave the room," Scott said with a glare to Chase and James, who were both ready to disagree, to just follow suit. Andy followed quietly before turning back and saying that they'll be right outside so they could hear if any trouble goes on.

I was still on the floor wiping furiously at my eyes when I felt Brandon slide down next to me.

"I'm sorry I made it look like it was your fault that I'm being such a pigheaded idiot," he started off with a lighter tone. "I'm sorry I accused you of two-timing. I'm sorry I hit one of your best friends. I'm sorry I made you cry. I'm sorry that I just can't seem to do anything right."

"Why?" I asked in a husky voice due to the emotion that I've been pouring out.

"Coz I was too slow to even grasp how much I love you."

* * *

**AN:** An update! And a very draining one at that due to the amount of emotion I tried to convey. This is a little over a page longer than what I usually write for Understanding. I contemplated breaking it into two but realized that it would break the flow of the story if I did. So here it is.

To everyone who guessed that Brandon was acting strange because of how deeply he felt for Mage, kudos to you. Here's a nice reward for your ability to read between the lines even if the past chapter centered on Mage's thoughts.

Thanks to everyone that sent a review or a PM about the story. I hope you like this chapter.

That's it for now.

- Nef


	18. Clearing Up

The silence that came over the room after he uttered those words lasted for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't form a coherent thought, much less a vocal reply. His intense stare wasn't helping any either. Just when I was ready to tell him to stop looking at me that way, the silence was broken by a knock on the door and Scott's head popping thru it.

"Didn't mean to interrupt," he said sheepishly, "but Jeff's calling for the two of you."

I looked down at the ground after seeing him back out of the room again. I was pretty sure that he was calling for us to ask about the fight that broke out between Brandon and Chase. I was even sure that Jeff's already talked to some people that saw it and most probably already talked to Chase and Andy. Then the realization hit that I could end up losing my job because I caused the fight to begin with.

"Don't worry about it," Brandon said looking down at me. I looked up at him to see him offering his hand to help me up of the floor. Only when I took it did he talk again. "It's my fault. I'll make sure you don't get into trouble for it."

I could only nod my head meekly in reply as he ushered me out the room with his hand resting on the small of my back.

On the way to Jeff's makeshift office, I could feel the eyes of several crewmembers and even hear them talking about the fight. I couldn't help but look back down on the floor in hurt and embarrassment over it.

"Don't listen to a word they're saying," Brandon whispered into my ear. "It doesn't matter."

There were still no words from me but instead, I squeezed his hand tighter as my other hand knocked on Jeff's door. The two of us went in after hearing a gruff 'come in'. We were both seemingly surprised to see Chase still inside.

Jeff let out a deep sigh before proceeding to give us somewhat of an earful about backstage decorum and how personal issues should be dealt with outside of the job. He said how he was disappointed that this had to go on before making both men sitting at either side of me promise that any fights between them were not to happen again.

After getting the response that he wanted from both men, they were dismissed. I, however, was asked to stay. Again, all I could do was look at the floor while both Brandon and Chase looked up at Jeff surprised and were prepared to come to some sort of defense. Jeff wouldn't have any of it though and told them to leave.

Once both men left, Jeff again let out a deep sigh. "What happened out there Mage?"

"To be honest," I started with my first words since the incident, "I'm not sure. Chase and I were talking, Brandon said something, Chase went to explain and next thing I know, fists were flying."

It was a childish way to describe what happened but that was all I could really say. I was still surprised that it actually happened.

"Nothing but a mere misunderstanding, huh?" he asked with a shake of his head. "How are you feeling?"

"Huh?" I asked looking up at him confused.

"I'm not blind Mage," he said looking pointedly at me. "I can tell you've been crying longer than just a few minutes ago. I've also seen how distracted and down you were since you arrived at the studio. So again I have to ask, how are you feeling?"

"I'll be glad once I could finally get home and sleep this day off," I said tiredly.

"Go ahead then," he said dismissively. "Get some sleep and try to forget that this day happened. Everything should turn out fine."

I had to cock my head sideways as he finished his statement. To say that I was surprised and confused would be an understatement.

"That's it?" I asked in disbelief.

"What do you mean that's it?" he asked in confusion. I only scrunched my eyebrows together in response. "Oh I get it. You were expecting a tongue lashing weren't you? I got enough smarts on me to know what went on. You're not in trouble."

"What do you think went on?" I asked in hopes to get a clear answer from someone uninvolved.

"Jealousy struck," he said simply. "Now I don't know about where you stand with Brandon, but from what I can see, both of you feel strongly for each other. Let's just say that his instincts kicked in and Chase merely tried to defend himself. I can't hold that against you."

"So you're not holding me responsible for being a cause in their fight?" I asked to which he only replied with a shake of his head. I blinked my eyes furiously to grasp what he said before shaking my head clear of it. "How people came to think of you as one of the biggest jackasses around, I'll never know."

"There's the Mage that we've all come to know and love," Jeff said breaking into a smile. "Now go on home and get some rest. And no more crying."

I smiled back at Jeff and headed out of his office to see James and Andy standing between Chase and Brandon. I groaned out which made them all turn to me.

"You didn't get in trouble did you?" James asked worriedly. I shook my head no and gave a small smile as James and everyone else sighed in relief.

We all kind of stood around in silence awkwardly after that. None of us really knew what to say I guess.

"What a night," Scott commented as he came out of his locker room with what I would assume was his gym bag slung over his shoulder. "I'm off to my hotel for sleep. I'll see you all around. Have a safe trip to wherever you're staying."

He got to a few feet away from us before I called for him to wait. I ran up to him and gave him a quick hug.

"Not that I don't appreciate a pretty lady giving me a hug, but what was that for?" he asked.

"Thanks," I said softly. He looked a bit confused so I decided to explain. "Thanks for coming between the two hotheads back there and helping them calm down. Just… thanks for the help."

He smiled warmly at me. "You're welcome little one. Those types of things never helped anything anyway. Plus, I always believed in not making tears come to a woman's eyes. I'm sure both of them know that now after seeing you cry. It's a heartbreaking sight. It doesn't suit you."

He said all of that in the softest voice I've ever heard from anyone. It was calming and made me feel that everything was going to be alright.

"I'll be going now," he motioned. "You better go back to your friends and tell them that you need to be heading off too. I'm sure you're tired from today."

I nodded at him and gave him another hug before going back to the guys. I heard them conversing as I approached and saw Brandon and Chase shake hands right before I stopped in front of them.

"Everything seems ok with you two now," I stated.

"It was a misunderstanding, we know that," Chase shrugged. "No use in dwelling on it."

"You woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," I quipped. All the guys looked at me with lost expressions. "You're too smart today."

Everyone but Chase broke out in laughter at my joke. It wasn't long before Chase started to chuckle himself.

"At least you're smiling," he said. "Wanna head to ale house?"

"I'll pass tonight," I said while looking at Brandon. "There's still something that I need to clear up."

* * *

**AN:** Hey hey hey! Sorry I wasn't able to update when I said I would. I got stuck again and when I finally got something going, I had to do work. But here's an update for you right now. It's not much though. Sort of like a small filler chapter. I should have another chapter up , along with one for To Get Me To You, within the next 3 days so don't fret.

Only a couple more chapters to go for this one. Someone asked if there was a possibility for a sequel to this. And although I've come to fall in love with this story, this by far has to be the most draining one to write for me. I've said it repeatedly that this only came out as a request fic which really made it hard for me to come up with ideas naturally. That doesn't take away from how grateful I am that a lot of you liked how I wrote/ am writing this. But to do a sequel, I would think would be even harder than writing this one. So please don't expect me to come up with one.

We'll see how it goes over time though. After finishing this, I still have the rest of To Get Me To You to write. If the muse for that, doesn't take me in a completely different direction than what I originally have planned, it should turn out to be the longest fic out of the stories I have up. Add to that, I have a songfic series and another story, both focusing on TNA wrestlers again, waiting in the wings. So remember to keep posted.

But for now, that's it.

- Nef


	19. Just Us

I was waiting at the doorstep of my apartment as Brandon was locking his car up. He agreed to follow me home with the invitation of wanting to talk to him. Only when he reached my side did I turn towards the door to unlock it.

I did the regular motions of putting down whatever I was carrying and taking off my jacket and shoes after coming in and just dismissively told him to sit down if he wanted to. I have to admit that I was acting a bit standoffish even if I had invited him to my home. I asked him if he wanted anything to eat or drink. He just softly asked for a glass of water.

After getting his water and setting the glass down on the coffee table, I dropped beside him on the sofa and leaned my head on the back of it. My head lolled to the side just in time to catch him finish the glass off in a mere three gulps. I had to chuckle at the sight which made him turn towards me in question.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" I asked.

"Should I be?" he asked back.

"Depends," I said coyly.

"On what?" he prodded.

"Are you serious?" I asked sitting up to face him. He only looked back at me with confusion. "Did you mean what you said?"

"I did," he said. "I do. And I will."

I stood up from the couch and walked over to the mantle with my hand going roughly thru my hair. I looked at the pictures of my family looking for an answer to come from their smiles that were frozen in time. When I reached the last and most recent picture, at the end, I let out a deep sigh. It was one of Brandon, Amaya and I when we went to Disney. We had asked another tourist to take a picture of us in front of Cinderella's castle. After handing back the camera, the tourist smiled and commented on what a beautiful family we were. And I guess I had my answer.

"No one has ever made me feel this way before," I said softly with my back still turned to Brandon. "I'm only about to turn twenty four. I've had relationships before, yes, but none that have ever made me feel like this. Never before have I ever felt this strongly for someone and at the same time afraid of what it could mean. I'm still a kid in most people's eyes and I still don't understand a lot. Heck, I still haven't been able to grasp why you chose me! I don't know much about these things. I'll keep worrying if I'm doing things right. I'll keep worrying about getting hurt. I'll keep worrying about getting **you** hurt."

I turned around to face him and was surprised to see his form standing only two feet away from me. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes for the umpteenth time tonight as he gently took my hands and wrapped them around his waist and guided my head to rest on his shoulder.

"Why do you think I tried to avoid you?" he asked in a whisper. "I was, and still am, scared too. The last time I gave my heart to someone, I got cheated on. It hurt, yeah, but I got Amaya to take all of that hurt away. I can't promise the best of whatever time, however short or how long a lifetime it is. All I can promise is that I'll do whatever I can to keep you by my side."

I burrowed my head into his neck and hugged him tighter before muttering out a few words.

"What?" he asked using his hand to tilt my head up by my chin.

"I said," I started as I looked into his eyes with a soft smile on my face, "that I love you too."

He dropped his hold on my chin and was just staring at me with wide eyes. He blinked a few times moments later. I guess he was trying to see if he was dreaming or not. I got impatient and just stood on my tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the lips. When I pulled away, I saw him break into a big smile. Not the smirk that he usually gives, not the small smile that people wouldn't even call a smile but a big smile that flashed his teeth.

"Say it again," he said huskily.

"I love you," I complied.

"And I love you," he said before engulfing me in his arms and giving me a forceful kiss. My eyebrows shot up in surprise at the force and passion that he put in his kiss and I could only let out a muffled groan as I felt my back hit the wall behind me.

Things were getting heated pretty fast as I felt his hands that were once caressing my cheeks travel down my sides and started tugging on my shirt. I pushed him off me to break the kiss only to take his hands in mine, give him a softer kiss, and lead him towards my bedroom.

* * *

I woke up to the heat of the sun in my face and the feeling of hands tightening around my waist. I looked behind me to see Brandon's eyes softly open. 

"Good morning," he said giving me a gentle kiss on the lips. I smiled in greeting and laughed lightly as I felt him bury his face in my hair.

I turned around in bed to be able to lay my head on his bare chest. I sighed contentedly as I heard the steady beating of his heart.

"I wish we could stay like this for the rest of the day," I whispered.

"Seeing how my flight out has since left over two hours ago, I suppose we can," he said after glancing at the clock.

I shot up in bed to look at the bedside clock that proudly displayed the time of eleven in the morning. I looked at Brandon with wide eyes and had to ask if he was going to end up missing anything.

"Nah," he said while running his hands thru my tussled hair. "I don't have to be anywhere until Friday. So if you'll have me, do you think I could stay?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," I said as I lay back down.

I could feel his hands lazily tracing circles on my back. An action that, paired with hearing the beat of his heart, almost lulled me back to sleep.

"I'm sorry about the fight last night," were words from his mouth that jolted me back from my half-asleep state. I raised my head up to look at him curiously as he let out a sigh. "I know you've been warned about my temperament, and that seeing me blow up like that on one of your good friends probably didn't help any. It's just… I was blinded I guess. And I'm sorry."

"You already apologized last night," I stated. "And I've forgiven you then. From the looks of things, Chase did too. Or did I dream that part up?"

Brandon chuckled lightly before replying. "No, that really did happen. Although I got a lashing and even a few threats from them before Chase and I shook on it." That was enough to pique my curiosity and made me lean on my elbow and prop my head up on my hand to look down at him, willing him to explain.

"Well, when you went off to hug Raven," he started.

"_If only Jeff isn't irate enough, I would have been kicking your ass all over Florida right now," James said._

"_And if only Mage wasn't around, I would have decided to just hold you up as Chase boxed the crap out of ya," piped Andy._

"_Quit it," Chase said. "I sorta get where he's coming from you know? It's obvious he's in love with the girl. And you know that love makes people do crazy things. Just look at James."_

"_Hey!" James exclaimed in defense. "Whatever. Anyway," he said as he turned back to Brandon. "I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you do anything to hurt her, I'll do everything to hurt you. If you even think of unleashing your temper on her, **I'll** unleash the fire of a thousand suns on you."_

"_Fire of a thousand suns?" Andy, Chase and Brandon simultaneously questioned._

"_Yes," James nodded. "The fire of a thousand suns… and I mean it."_

_Chase stared James for a few seconds before shaking his head to clear his mind of it. "Look, just take care of that girl. She's quite a catch. If James is her brother, I guess I'd be his best friend that looks at her like the little sister I never had – "_

"_Or the one that has a crush on her but won't act on it coz of her big brother," Andy interrupted._

"_Forget that Andy even exists," Chase said dryly. "I don't see Mage in that way, don't worry. The fact of the matter is, I care for that girl probably more than I should given the amount of time I've known her. In a deeper manner, so do you. None of us that are hearing this particular conversation want anything to break that girl's heart. The sight of her crying is enough to break my own heart. Just do her right."_

"Remind me to thank Chase and James," I said softly after he finished recounting the conversation that they had.

"What about Andy?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh, a good slap upside the head would be coming his way," I quipped.

He laughed a little bit but stopped after noticing that the smile on my face dropped as an expression of worry took its place.

"You ok?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.

"How are we gonna do this?" I asked in a whisper. "I still have the same fears from last night even after all that we've shared. Don't get me wrong," I said hurriedly at seeing his look of surprise, "last night was more than what I could have hoped for. And I love you even more for it."

"I love you too," he interjected. "And I think I know why you're worried. You're still letting whatever was said or is being said about me get to you, aren't you?"

"I'm not like you," I said quietly. "I can't just push it to the back of my mind. It hurts to hear it because it feels like they're tearing my judgment down as much as they try to tear you down."

Brandon sat up and leaned on the head rest before gathering me in his arms and cradling my head against his chest.

"They don't matter," he stated. "In this relationship, all that should matter is us, how we feel and everything else that has to deal with us being together. That includes my daughter and the rest of my family, your family and if we really have to, Chase and James."

If anything, that lightened me up a bit. "What about Andy?" I asked, giving him the same question as he did before.

"As Chase suggested, let's just forget he exists," he quipped.

"That would be kinda hard considering he's always following Chase around," I shot back.

"What is he, a puppy?" Brandon asked looking down at me with a slight smile.

"He could be would those eyes of his," I said thoughtfully.

"Now what are you doing looking at his eyes?" he asked in mock accusation.

"Nothing," I said nonchalantly. "I just kept thinking how much better it would have been if I was looking into yours."

Brandon settled me back down on the bed and hovered over me for a while. He was looking at my face with intent as if trying to memorize every detail. "I love you," he said, before claiming my lips once again.

I broke the kiss as I looked up pointedly up at him. "You still haven't told me why you chose me."

"I'll tell you some other time," was his only response before smirking and leaning down to capture my lips once again.

* * *

**AN: **First off, let me say sorry if parts of their conversation seemed to be going all over the place. I wanted to show a break in Brandon's usual seriousness and show a midpoint for him and Mage. More of this should be cleared up in the next chapter. Yes, that means I already have something planned. 

Speaking of which, there might only be one or two chapters left for this. I'm still not quite sure. I guess we'll see by my next update.

The promised chapter for To Get Me To You should be up either tomorrow or by Monday. I would do it by today but I need to get to sleep. This one just didn't want me to stop until it's been put up.

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed thus far and to everyone that hasn't reviewed yet, please do leave at least one review. (I'm sounding just like I did on A Lot Of Moxie, aren't I?) And oh yeah! I put up a one shot entitled Feels Like Home. Please do read and review that one too.

That's it for now.

- Nef


	20. Choices and Plans

By the time that Brandon and I did drag ourselves off the bed, we were both starving. Taking a glance at the clock which displayed two pm in big red blocks, I decided to head into the kitchen and make the both of us some lunch.

"Do you want anything specific for lunch?" I asked absentmindedly as I was putting on a shirt and boxers.

"Anything would be fine," Brandon said dismissively. "Do you mind if I take a shower?"

"Nah, go ahead. I'll be in the kitchen," I said.

Once I made my way to the kitchen, I rummaged through my cabinets and looked in the fridge to see what kind of lunch I could come up with. I wasn't really up to cooking up a storm so I just settled on making sandwiches with the loaf of bread and cold cuts that I found.

After preparing a spread of cold cuts, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese, I went to grab the juicer to freshly squeeze some oranges. Before I could cut into one though, Brandon appeared at the entry and told me that he'd do it.

"Your turn to grab a shower," he said pushing me slightly out of the way. "I'll finish this. We can eat after you're done."

"Alright," I said and gave him a quick kiss before skipping to my room.

I dashed into the bathroom and took a quick shower. I was in the middle of towel drying my hair when a phone settled on my night stand started vibrating. It was Brandon's phone and a call was coming in. The caller ID displayed 'Cide', so I didn't think twice about answering instead of going to the kitchen and risk him hanging up by the time I get to Brandon.

"Hello?" I asked in the receiver.

"Did you get the goods?" Nelson asked absentmindedly.

"If I didn't like you, I would slap you upside the head the next time I see you," I said dryly.

"Whoops," he said sheepishly. "Uh… You do know that I was kidding, right Mage?"

I laughed into the phone and started to make my way to the kitchen. "Pay attention to the voice that answers next time D."

Brandon was looking at me funny as I handed him the phone. I mouthed who was on the phone before proceeding to make my lunch. I was humming a song out until I heard Brandon exclaim a 'you what?!' which makes me think that Nelson must have recounted what he said to me. After looking at Brandon and seeing the sheepish smile on his face, I knew I was right. I just shrugged and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Right… Listen man," he said. "We're about to have lunch. I'll talk to you later."

"I am **so** sorry," he said after hanging up.

Again, I just laughed it off. "You and D are guys. If I was D and I was supposed to fly back to New York with you only to come up without a travel partner and given the fact that you were with your girl the night before, I would have asked the same thing."

"You would huh?" he said with a raised eyebrow. I nodded curtly in reply. "You are way too understanding for your own good."

"If I wasn't, you wouldn't be standing here," I quipped.

"Good point," he said.

He went and busied himself with making his sandwich and pouring us each a glass of juice. We were silent for a few minutes into eating lunch until I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Can you tell me now?" I whined.

Brandon let out a deep laugh that sent shivers down my spine. "That's one of the reasons."

"Huh? What?" I asked confused.

He finished off his sandwich and drank up his juice as I sat there tapping my fingers on the countertop.

"Here's the thing," he started. "I wasn't looking for anything but you intrigued me that first night."

"Intrigued you? How?" I asked. "I was merely sitting there and looking around at people."

"Yeah, you were but it wasn't what you were doing but what you looked like. The look in your eyes and the expression on your face was so focused," he explained. "It was something I see on myself."

"People say that we're too great of opposites to be part of a withstanding relationship. I'm too serious, you're more laidback. You prefer to be around people when I like being on my own. I'm temperamental and you're calm. But when I see you, when I talk to you, when I'm with you, I figure we're actually the same," he went on.

"How do you figure?" I asked languidly, now totally engrossed in the words he was saying.

"Everything I just used to describe you and me, we both share," he started. "It just so happens we let them out in different intensities. You get me?"

"I think," I said still in a little of a confused haze.

"Let's take this for example: I take my job seriously the way you take your job seriously. As much as I'd like to forget this instance, I have to say it. Remember that fight you and I had over the fire?"

I laughed lightly at his embarrassed tone. "Yeah, I do. And I get it now. You're just more upfront than I am with most things. It usually needs to get beaten out of me."

He nodded lightly.

"So that's it? It was because of how I looked back then that got you interested. Then after a couple of interactions, you were pretty much hooked," I said.

"Gee, you make it so meaningless," he said dryly. I slapped his arm. "Abuse!"

"Shut up!" I said in between laughter.

"I didn't want to fall in love with you," he said softly. "But I couldn't help it after the many things that happened. You were the first one to really stand up to me and actually meet me head on with the things I said. You took to Amaya and Amaya took to you so well. You understand me so much better than anyone else that I've ever met. You're probably just as focused as I am except you have this quiet intensity about you. You pick everything apart, and don't you dare deny it, I know you do," he said at seeing my look of disagreement. That of course earned him another slap to the arm.

"So what if I do?" I challenged. "You're the same way."

"Exactly," he said simply. "That's why I love you. You're the perfect complement and yet, similar to me."

"I love you too Brandon," I said as I inched closer to his lips before giving him a slow kiss.

* * *

The days between then and Thursday flew by relatively quick. The next thing I knew, I was at the airport bidding goodbye to Brandon who had a show to do in New Jersey the next day. We were just sitting on the uncomfortable airport seats as we were waiting for the boarding call of his late afternoon flight.

"I have come to the conclusion that I don't like having to say goodbye," I said dryly.

"Where did that come from?" Brandon asked.

"Nowhere, I just thought it," I said weakly.

"I don't like it either, but I kinda have to work," he said. "And you know how I feel about that."

"I know," I said simply.

"You should come with me next time," he threw out. "That way you won't have to say goodbye every time I leave after a TNA taping."

"Maybe next time you have a slew of shows," I said nonchalantly.

"I was serious about that suggestion," he said.

"And I was serious about my reply," I shot back.

"You are one of a kind," he said with a smirk.

"That's why you love me," I said cheekily.

He smiled before leaning in to give me a kiss.

"Wanna meet my family?" I asked after he sat right back in his seat.

"Again I ask, where did that come from?" he said with slight laughter.

"It's just that we kinda made plans for me to come with you on your wrestling trips," I started. "That's important to you the same way my family is important to me. So again I ask, wanna meet them?"

"Quit making fun of me," he said. "And sure."

"_Flight 1430 to New York JFK is now boarding. Flight 1430 to New York JFK is now boarding._"

"Well, that's me," Brandon said as he stood up.

I took the hand that he offered to pull myself off of the seat and then went to hug and kiss him.

"I'll miss you," I said. "Call me when you get there."

"I'll miss you too," he said before giving me a kiss. "I'll call you and I love you Magic."

"I love you too Brandon."

* * *

**AN:** Last chapter people. Despite being able to actually get this story going after not really having steam for it, I for one, am glad that this is done. Don't get me wrong, I loved writing this and loved the response I got for it even more, but doing request sequels when the original story was already closed is just too much.

Oh yeah, if you want a sequel to this, it's been up for months. You know? The Quiet Things No One Ever Knows. That's the sequel. LOL

Although, if you read between the lines, this one is on the open end. There's room for Quiet Things to be inserted and even more. Who knows? I might get something going for another oneshot sequel. Kinda like a 'where are they now?' thing. Don't hold your breath on it though, it might not get done.

Anyway, I wanna thank everyone that has ever reviewed this story: Takerslady, foolishangel87, DegenerationXchick, MissPhilippinesSuperStar, HeartsAndLies, Lycanqueen54, misstraci, LegendThriller, PsYcHoRoAcH, and Total Nonstop Attitude.

Biggest thanks go to DarkGirlX and Phoenix-Satori10. I couldn't have gotten the energy to even finish this story if it wasn't for the reviews and support that I've gotten from you two.

To foolishangel87, I hope that you realized that Nelson's phone call was because of your last review. LOL

Well… that's it for this one.

Stay tuned for updates on To Get Me To You, a one shot sequel of sorts to Clipped Wings, and two new stories called Strange Fascinations and Hollow Eyes. If the little voice in my head doesn't stop, there's also a one shot called For Those Few Moments coming up.

Thanks!

- Nef


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